My Protector
by tainted-angel21
Summary: There were very few people who knew L Lawliet was dead. But what they didn't know was that he was brought back from the dead with only one sole purpose, to protect me...My name is Iris Ravenhart and this is my story...
1. First Meetings and Chocolate Truffles

Hi...well, I'm Zahra and this is the first time I am putting up a story...So to those who will read this, thanks for reading and please review because I will be eternally grateful for the encouragement and all kinds of criticism will be positively taken...Thanks...and well, happy reading...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Deathnote!**

**My Protector**

I always thought of my grandmother as an enigma. She was one of the most amazing yet frustratingly annoying persons I knew. It takes a lot to either amaze me or annoy me, never mind both. But she managed to do it with ease. The woman had so many different sides to her. She was beautiful. Even at her age, her face held a timeless beauty, a glow that was almost fey-like. Her eyes always blazed with a fire that never burnt out. I always believed that those slate-gray eyes of her's spoke more than her lips did. And she said the same thing about my chocolate brown eyes. Apparently, all the Ravenhart women had eyes that were far more expressive than the words that they spoke. Sometimes though, I felt that her eyes contradicted her actions too.

She was quite old, but she had barely any wrinkles on that regal face of her's. Her beautiful hair was long and always pinned back; was once pitch black like mine, but now it was a beautiful shiny silver. Sometimes when she muses over her past with my grandfather, she says how my grandfather liked to compare the color of her hair to the feather of a raven. He called her his Raven. I had never met my grandfather, he had died long before I was born, but I did have memories of him. Stories that my grandmother told me and my imagination that brought them alive. I could confidently say that I loved the man my grandfather was. I was proud of him.

I have very little memory of my mother and my father as well. I was told they died in a car accident when I was barely fourteen months old. I was raised by my grandmother, Morganna Ravenhart and my godfather. Both my grandmother and my godfather made sure though that I knew almost everything about my parents though. I am told that I look exactly like my mother and have my father's eyes. I, according to them, am an interesting mix of my parents.

My grandmother though, she always said that you have to behave differently with different people. To others, she was arrogant, shrewd, rude, ruthless, regal, dominating and very cold. But with her family, she was quite different. She was fiercely protective, quirky, humorous, caring in her own strange way and she was controlling in a sense too. She always said she had a lot to teach me, but she would never teach me anything. And that was the lesson itself. I was supposed to learn from everything around me and through my experiences.

Sometimes I could convince myself that I knew her well enough, but whenever I thought that for even the slightest second she managed to contradict me. There was so much about my grandmother that I didn't know about. She has too many secrets, mild harmless secrets and dangerous secrets with enough potential to ruin many people's lives. So in a way there were some secrets that I was better left without knowing, but there were some which were only mine to discover. My grandmother believed that everyone had their own paths to follow. Destiny had written something for everyone and anyone. And for me, she always said, destiny had written great things.

My grandmother was very eccentric. Sure she owned and led one of the biggest business empires in the world, and she was one of the most influential and powerful women in the world, but the truth was that my grandmother was kind of barmy. The woman could rip apart the biggest of corporate heads with just her cold eyes and sharp words and come up with the most brilliant of business strategies in minutes, but at the same time she would talk about demons and ghosts, superstitions and card readings. She would talk about the different auras and essences that different people had. She said she could see the past, present and the future of almost anyone she wanted. She talked about many things which I always thought never existed. And I always told my grandmother that she was crazy and to stop making me believe that she was a witch or something. She only used to smile that slightly crazy but mostly mysterious smile of her's at me.

Actually I only openly denied what I already knew. I believed that it would always be for the best if I was kept at a need to know basis. Truthfully, I kind of did believe that there was something not normal about my grandmother. My grandmother and I lived in England almost all my life. In the country side. In a huge mansion. A mansion that was filled with almost all the luxuries that life could offer. But there was a slight catch. Strange things happened in the Ravenhart mansion. Very strange things indeed. One could hear noises and voices. Voices that did not belong to any human present in the mansion and noises made by things which were unidentifiable. Things would be moved from their correct places to places where they did not belong. Sometimes certain items levitated themselves too. Sometimes the paintings in the houses came alive and moved. And at other times the statues changed positions. These things were normal at the Ravenhart mansion. I have seen them all happening since I was a baby. Whatever did make them happen never seemed to scare me or harm me though. They sort of followed me around the huge mansion. Made sure I was never alone and always looked after. In a way they made me feel safe. My grandmother, my godfather and our butler always told me that nothing in the Ravenhart mansion would ever hurt the mistress of the mansion. My grandmother was the current mistress of the mansion and I was supposed to be the mistress-to-be. So none of it ever bothered me. But they did bother every new person who would enter the Ravenhart mansion. So we had only a few staff members at the mansion. Only the most trusted of maids and servants worked there. When I was young though, I always laughed at how fast some maids could run and how loud the gardeners could scream when they saw some things floating in mid-air. It was quite entertaining to a six year old.

My grandmother always knew things. She just knew certain things that one would think that no one could possibly know. If I ever asked her how she knew it, she would either say that she saw it in a dream or a vision or she would say that someone told her. My grandmother had a room I rarely ever entered in my life. I called it her 'Witchy Room'. That was where she kept her odd antiques and those even odder books and the oddest of ingredients she experimented with. She drew things too. Sometimes a few visions she claimed she had but rarely ever showed them to me. She kept them in folders with her magic books. But what always intrigued me were the strange symbols and patterns that she sometimes drew on certain objects and on the floor.

I never asked her about any of these things though. There was a part of me that always told me that I had to accept whatever was around me and not question it. But truthfully I wanted to remain ignorant of my grandmother's rather eccentric life in the Witchy Room. But I do remember my grandmother once telling me that even if I did ask her about all of those strange books and her activities in that room, she would not tell me anything clearly. She said if I wanted to know more and learn more about any of it, she wouldn't teach me. I had to learn by myself. Which meant blindly entering that strange room and going through all those things. So I didn't even consider that option. Ever.

I was sent to the best of private schools in England. But soon enough my godfather and my grandmother found out a small problem. I was smarter than all of those children in the school combined. The other kids never liked me much and even if they did they were scared of the strange things that happened around me. The teachers never saw but some of the children did. Apparently, some of the things in the Ravenhart mansion decided to follow me to my school to keep an eye on me. My grandmother said that certain spirits were too protective of me because I was so young. She claimed to our butler, Gilbert that as I would grow older the spirits would trust me enough to take care of myself. My godfather though, he never liked to hear any of these spirits nonsense from my grandmother. So he just said that I was too smart for the schools. I was too smart even for the advanced classes. In a way it was true, but Gilbert said my godfather liked to deny certain things that happened. I agreed with Gilbert, my godfather, Victor did seem to look the other way when there was a vase floating beside his head or just pretend to notice look at a painting that was dancing. So whenever Victor was around I humored his odd behavior and stayed aloof about the "flying objects and bizarre sounds" around us.

So Victor decided that I was to be home tutored. I did not complain. I liked to study at home, it gave me more time to learn. And I did not need to bother myself with those ignorant and rather foolish kids from school. They really were quite the bullies and so very immature. The home tutors were some of the bests and thankfully though the unknown things of the Ravenhart mansion never bothered my tutors when they came about. My grandmother said that the spirits want me to be smart and learn, so they left my teachers alone. So I learned everything that my tutors had to teach me. Math, Literature, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Latin, Japanese, Italian, anything and everything. I was trained to be the head of the Ravenhart business. I was taken to the board meetings and the new factories and the new projects and all the new offices all over the world since I was fifteen. Victor and my grandmother explained me everything and had taught me well. I was the heiress to Ravenhart Pharmaceuticals and Ravenhart Technologies.

Since I was fifteen I was almost like an assistant to Victor. Sometimes I felt like they insisted more on the fact that I learn to have proper skills to become a leader than an actual heiress to a business empire. In a way I was happy about this fact too. I didn't want to be that heiress, I was just happy to learn whatever Victor taught me and all I did was to see that slight glint of pride in his eyes when he looked at me. Nobody knew though that the tiny girl who followed Victor around and was supposedly rumored to be his niece or apprentice or something was actually the girl who would own everything with the name Ravenhart on it. I was very well protected from the world's eyes. Victor made sure of that.

I was also taught to defend myself if needed be. Victor demanded that I was trained right. When I turned seven my training in kick-boxing started and I was also taught how to wield a sword and a staff. I was taught how to shoot too. Surprisingly though Gilbert was the one who taught me how to wield a sword and the staff. Grandmother taught me how to shoot with the impressive collection of guns she had. Victor handled my martial arts training. While Gilbert insisted I be honorable during a fight, Victor demanded for me to be ruthless and to fight dirty if needed be. That was one of the most famous topics of debate between Gilbert and Victor. Well, if you could call yelling and breaking into fist-fights debates.

By the time I turned nineteen, I was helping Victor and my grandmother run Ravenhart Pharmaceuticals and Ravenhart Technologies. For a month now, my grandmother has been telling me that she didn't have enough time anymore and even though initially I did not believe her, but soon enough the heavy dread in the pit of my stomach and the hollowness I felt in my heart told me that I was starting to believe her. But then why would she say that when she looked so healthy.

I always told my grandmother that she was a scheming imp of a woman. And that morning when I woke up in bed she confirmed that statement of mine. I opened my eyes to see him. There was a man on my bed, sitting in a peculiar way and staring at me with those odd eyes of his. He was wearing a full sleeved white t-shirt with a pair of well-worn blue jeans. He was bare-foot and sitting on the very toes of his feet in an odd crouched way. He had unusually pale skin. Almost ghostly white. His face was kind of impassive. But those eyes of his were hauntingly familiar. Why, I didn't know. They were black and they looked me over and over again as if memorizing every inch of me, but at the same time I could literally feel the gears in his head turning as he calculated something about me. A part of me wanted to ask him if he suffered from insomnia, because he had the hugest and the darkest dark circles under his eyes. On someone else that might have looked awful and somewhat creepy, but on him they looked perfect. As if they belonged there. They gave his face a certain character. In a way they made him kind of adorable. And besides, his eyes weren't blood-shot, so the dark circles did not look terrible at all. His hair, that mop of a black hair on his head had to be the messiest hair I had ever seen. Those locks of pitch black hair were kind of long and falling all over his face and eyes. His hair looked clean and kind of soft; I had this overwhelming urge to run my hands along it actually. Or at least pet his head. He had a straight nose and thin pale lips. His fingers were pale, long and thin, kind of spidery. One of those fingers was tracing his lips as he stared at me.

I should have screamed, or used the gun in bed-side table to blow a hole through his head. Or I could have beaten him to an inch of his life. But I didn't do any of that. I didn't because something in me told me I shouldn't do any of that. So I asked him, my voice falling completely impassive to my ears, "Who are you?"

He blinked once and replied in that smooth voice of his, "I am L."

I looked at him with narrowed eyes as I tried to figure out exactly who he was, or what he was for that matter. I mean, who called themselves 'L'? Was it some sort of nickname or what? Was he trying to be all mysterious by hiding his real name? Or did he really need to hide his name for reasons that I didn't know about? What was it? So, I asked again, "L, why are you here?"

He blinked once again and replied in a voice that could only be described as curious, "I was summoned here to protect you by your grandmother, Miss Iris."

As soon as the word 'summoned' hit my ear, I knew exactly what he was and why he was there; and also why he had that strange name. But right at that moment all I wanted to do was shake that conniving grandmother of mine and force her to tell me what she had planned. So I stared at him with cold eyes and asked him, "Do you know what you are, L?"

L cocked his head to the side and replied back in that same curious voice, "I had died. Your grandmother said she has summoned me. She has summoned my spirit to protect you, Miss Iris."

I gritted my teeth as I stared at this man before me. There was no way in hell was I going to be stuck with a spirit. A spirit whom I could see and talk to. A spirit who was here to protect me. Protect me from something I knew nothing about while my grandmother knew everything about. The woman was at it again with her secrets and her schemes.

While I was busy ranting at my grandmother in my head, the man, L was busy staring at me. The next thing he said kind of confirmed me that not only was my grandmother not the only barmy person in the mansion but that having this L as a protector would be a very…bizarre…experience. He said in the most matter-of-fact voice ever, "Your eyes look like chocolate truffles."

I tried my best to maintain a very blank face at that. And then I mimicked his voice and replied back, "And you, L look like a panda with those eyes of yours, but you don't find me commenting on them, now do you?"

He blinked twice and looked at me with those glittering black eyes of his. Damn, I might have compared him to a panda, but there was nothing panda like about him. Those obsidian eyes of his were too intense to be compared to a panda. Pandas didn't look at you with eyes that made your stomach feel uneasy. I could feel my cheeks heat up a little and my heart thudding loudly against my chest as I felt his eyes trying to calculate everything there was about me. Just to avoid looking at him, I started running my hand through my hair as I looked down at my lap. He really seemed like a person who would calculate everything about someone. That was when I finally noticed that I was still in my nightwear. That is, my tight camisole and my short shorts. I immediately clutched my bed sheet and pulled it over my chest trying to cover myself in front of this stranger. But I knew it was too late, he had already seen what he had to during the past minutes I was busy observing him. I wasn't used to people looking at me in revealing clothing. Nobody except Victor, Gilbert and my grandmother saw me in my nightwear. I felt my cheeks flush deep red and I cursed my pale complexion. Damn it, I wore the camisole without a bra on, and that meant L saw more than an eyeful.

But something as trivial as that wouldn't set me back. Nothing would. I looked at him and told him in a voice that was only best described as commanding, "L, please stay where you are and excuse me for fifteen minutes. I shall be back after I freshen up. We have much to talk about."

He was still staring at me, making me fidget a bit and replied in that deep voice of his, "I have nowhere else to go anyways, Miss Iris."

I gave him that same smirk I always gave Victor before I would verbally emasculate one of our pig-headed corporate heads at the company. And then I replied back softly, "Good. Then after I return you and I shall figure this…thing out and then we will raise hell for my dearest grandmother."

I think I surprised him with my evil smirk and the mean streak that I had. But Gilbert always called that my feisty side. Apparently, I looked too innocent to be as feisty as I actually was. He took in a sharp breath and blinked a few times. And then he was staring at me again with those intense eyes of his, tracing his lips with those pale long fingers of his. I gave him a short nod and was on my way to my bathroom. I had much to figure out and I knew that it was going to be a very long day.


	2. Miss Iris and the Panda Man

Hey...I couldn't wait and posted up the next chapter immediately...After all I have to hook you people on this story...So, enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Deathnote...**

**My Protector**

By the time I was out from the bathroom, freshly showered and properly clothed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a purple t-shirt, I found L standing beside my window. I didn't notice it before but, he was quite tall. Sure he was lean and he slouched while he was standing, but he was still tall. Quite a lot taller than my slight 5 foot 2 inches frame. He turned to look at me and that was the moment I noticed something I found positively endearing about him. Why exactly though I didn't know. But he looked really endearing nibbling on his thumb like that.

His eyes widened almost comically the moment he saw me smiling at him. The man really had a problem with staring like that. The intensity of his stares was really starting to bother me. I felt the smile leave my lips and we were both caught in that awkward silent moment. Neither of us wanted to make the first move and quite frankly neither of us knew what to say or do either. We both wanted to see the other person make the first move and then analyze that move and then make our own. I knew I was being childish by just not saying what I had in mind. But to be quite honest, he was being childish too. Sure I knew what I wanted to talk to him about but, he must have too had some questions for me. I mean, come on, he had to be at least a little curious about his strange predicament. And for once I wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, so I did what he had been doing to me so far. I stared at him unblinkingly. And annoyingly so, he wasn't even the least bit bothered. In fact, he took it a step further; he stared eyeing me from top to bottom again and again while nibbling on his thumb. I couldn't take it anymore and then asked him, "Would you like find out more about the bizarre situation my grandmother has forced upon us?"

His reaction was quite unsettling. And that was because he did not react in any way at all, he just kept on nibbling at his thumb while staring at me. Okay, so maybe the thumb nibbling thing wasn't that endearing anymore. I took a seat on the arm rest of a chair nearby as I waited for a response from him.

Finally he gave me a curt nod. I lazily took the pendant I always wore around my neck and thumbed it and considered what I exactly wanted to say to him.

"By your looks I am hazarding a guess and assuming that you were a human before you were forced upon to be here. Which would also mean that you died and had a life before your rather untimely death. Now, before you and I make a move, I need to know if you remember anything about your life before your death?"

In that monotonous voice he replied, "I remember everything, Miss Iris."

His repeated use of my name suddenly brought forward another aspect of this predicament to my mind. My grandmother obviously told him my name. But the real question was what else did she tell him about me or about this situation for that matter…

Then of course there was that small matter of exactly how much involved was he with my grandmother's crazy plan. It was quite clear that he was quite evasive about giving out information. So the chances of him telling me anything if he did know something were very slim. But nonetheless I had to give him a chance before I judged him unkindly. So I asked staring right into those dark eyes of his, "My grandmother has already told you my name. But what else did she tell you, L?"

He blinked once before he did something that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable. That impassive expression left his face as this new expression slipped in. His eyes took in this leery look and a small gleeful smile on that pale face of his as he still chewed on that thumb. I could literally feel those eyes of his on my body as they scanned me from my toes till my head. And how very slow and thorough that scan was. I knew his eyes lingered on my breasts a little too long. I dared him in my mind to make some obscene comment about me. Just one word and I'd have a reason to pummel him to the ground, summoned spirit or not.

His voice was slightly cheery and held an almost child-like innocence as he answered me, "She only told me as much as you, yourself know right now, Miss Iris."

His eyes glittered as he kept that smile on his face. I didn't need a mirror to know that my expression must have hardened. The bastard was mocking me. I was quite competitive, and I never was the one to just let someone mock me and get away with it. Like I thought before, he was evasive and he was calculative. But no matter. I knew exactly how to handle him.

His eyes slightly widened when I gave him my best psychotic smirk. My grandmother always did say that my smirks were extremely disconcerting considering my innocent appearance. According to her my smirk was an odd mix between the smirks of Victor and Gilbert. You see, Gilbert's smirk was this small smirk that was all pleasant looking, yet it would freeze your blood and make you spine shiver. And Victor on the other hand, had this purely animalistic smirk. It made you feel like a prey in front of a hungry predator. A very big hungry lion cornering a weak gazelle like feeling. Victor being the lion, of course. Considering the fact that these two men raised me since I was a baby, I could safely say that my smirk had a similar effect, more or less.

I gave him a slow once over too, making sure that I licked my lower lip as lasciviously as possible and then ordered him softly, "Come here!"

He jumped a little at that. But his eyes looked slightly confused as he slowly made his way towards me. As soon as he was about a few feet near me, I made my move. I grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him down onto his knees hard. He gave a small comical yelp and bit onto the thumb in his mouth hard and those eyes of his went as big as tennis balls. Even on his knees his head was a few inches or so taller than me. I leaned in close to his face, our nose a few inches apart as I declared firmly, "Well then, let me tell you what I know right now."

He gave a small nod as I let go of his shirt. I waited for a minute as I watched him take a seat in the chair in front of me. He sat in that weird crouching position again. His eyes stared back at me, they were amused. Something in the back of my mind told me that he wanted to gauge a reaction out of me, so he did what he had to do. This meant he let me practically manhandle him. That fact didn't sit too well with me, but a larger fact soothed down my ego. Now we both knew I could break his face in if he ticked me off. In a way this little incident should make him aware of the fact that I wouldn't tolerate being mocked.

I started explaining my findings, "My grandmother always dabbled in this supernatural mumbo jumbo. I never took any interest in any of it. And whatever supernatural thing happened around me, I let it happen without questioning it or asking for an explanation. As long as it didn't bother me, I was fine with it. That includes flying objects, talking and moving paintings and statues and those transparent people that I sometimes see around the mansion."

L looked a bit curious at this, I continued, "My grandmother is a bit unusual and quite eccentric. I love her quite a lot, but this, I cannot tolerate. Her making a move as inane as this. This is my life; she shouldn't make any decisions for me without at least discussing it with me. I never said I wanted nor needed a spirit to protect me."

For a split second, I thought this L character was giving me the hurt puppy dog look, and then I remembered the fact that this spirit before me was quite scheming himself. I said sternly, "Therefore, if you do know a reason as to why you are protecting me or from whom you are protecting me, you better tell me now, L."

He blinked at me a few times before replying softly, "I have to protect you, Miss Iris. From whatever harm that may come your way."

I asked him bluntly seeing as I myself did not know much about summoned spirits, "Do you know what you can or cannot do?"

L looked quite excited at this point and I finally thought maybe I would finally have some answers. He answered cheerfully, "No. But I'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

I snorted. The bastard really liked yanking my chain for some reason. So I decided to return the favor. I asked with a sweet smile, "Want to know what I know about your abilities so far?"

He nodded with a sweet smile of his own. I retorted back nonchalantly, "I can touch you unlike the other transparent people I see. Most probably because you were summoned for me and because your only goal is to protect me from harm. I can actually beat you up if you piss me off and you can't do anything about it."

At that the guy immediately dropped that thumb from his mouth and he pouted at me. This annoying grown man pouted at me. And then he retorted with that child-like innocence, "Miss Iris is so mean to me."

I smiled a small smile as I stated, "And Miss Iris is proud of that fact too."

Did I mention that this guy is completely barmy? Well, what he said next completely proved it. He gave me an overly sweet smile as he stated, "Its okay for Miss Iris to be mean to me because Miss Iris has eyes that look like chocolate truffles and she smells like vanilla and cinnamon."

What did I ever do to deserve a perverted scheming barmy spirit to protect me from the unknown who apparently likes to compare me to sweets and looks somewhat like a panda?


	3. Frozen Paintings, Salt and Strawberries

**Disclaimer: I do not own Deathnote...**

**My Protector**

He had this annoyingly aloof expression on his face as he followed me out of my room. As I took long strides down the hallway that led to my grandmother's office, I noticed something that left me feeling quite anxious. Everything was normal. I didn't even hear a peep. No weird sounds or whispers. Also, not a single thing was floating about. The paintings for the first time in a very long time were frozen. The statues were just that, statues. Abruptly, I stopped walking and stood still.

L came in and stood beside me. I could feel his confused and slightly concerned gaze on me. But I was feeling far too panicked to even return his gaze. I was breathing too fast and my stomach felt like it was filled with lead. For the first time in my life, I truly felt alone in this huge mansion. The paintings, the people in the paintings always interacted with me. They were in a way my friends. They always smiled at me, waved at me or talked to me. And if not with me, then they at least interacted with each other. But now they were all just still.

I could feel the edges of my eyes burning with unshed tears as I blinked rapidly to hold them in. I shakily made my way to one of the friendliest paintings I knew. I called him Sir Rayne. It was a painting of a very sad looking knight with pitch black hair and dark green eyes. He was a handsome one, all the females in all the other paintings tried to get his attention. But he was always ignored them. He said he loved someone else. Unrequited love, he said. That was why he was sad. But he always smiled when he saw me. I must have been three when I first told him in what seemed like really good logic to a child that he shouldn't look so sad when he had a really cool sword like that. I had made him smile and thus he became my good friend. I always made sure to make him smile at least once a day. He had a nice smile. He always talked to me; he called me, his little lady. If someone else had called me that, I would have knocked their teeth in, but if he did, it was alright.

I stood in front of him and yet he didn't utter a single word. Everything was still in his frame. His lips didn't even quiver a little to form even the tiniest of smiles. They were pressed tightly together as his eyes stared off. He was frozen in a normal painting. My heart clenched as I hoarsely whispered, "Si-r Ray-ne…"

There wasn't an answer or a movement. I then swallowed hard to hold back a gasp and strongly called out to the painting beside his. The painting of a tabby cat. He was a friend of Sir Rayne. "Callum, wh-what happened?"

Yet again, no answer. I shut my eyes tight and slowly breathed in and out. I calmed myself down as I forced my brain to start thinking about all of this logically. The only answer I came up with was to ask Gilbert or grandmother what happened here. But before I could open my eyes, I heard him call out my name ever so softly, "Miss Iris…"

As I opened my eyes, I felt his hands lightly grasping my shoulders and my chin to make me look at him. He looked so bewildered by my behavior. His eyes looked slightly panicked as they roamed all over my face. I noticed something else as he stared at me though. His eyes weren't black like I thought before, his eyes were actually a steely-gray, only that his pupils were so large that they made his eyes look black. But the gray was still there. It was so dark; for a few seconds I couldn't just look away from them. His eyes kind of suited him. I managed a shaky smile at that.

He visibly calmed a little at my slight smile. An odd thought struck me; maybe he did mean what he said about protecting me. That lone thought made me want to be a little bit nicer to him. After all, he was doing what he was summoned to do. I shouldn't be that mean to him.

But that didn't mean that this strange spirit was returning the favor. I stiffened a little and gave him my frostiest glare as I felt him rubbing the shoulder he had his hand on. He was drawing circles and swirls on my shoulder with those thin fingers of his. And he was caressing my chin with his other hand. His touch was almost teasing; it tickled and I didn't like it one bit. It made my stomach feel all weird. To my utter surprise, he didn't seem the least bit bothered by my glare. In fact, he was leaning in towards my face. I swore to myself that if he tried anything on me I'd dislocate both his arms and then set them back to dislocate them again. It bugged me even more to see that he was still taller than me even when he was hunched. He had to bend down to come closer to my face. Before I could tell him to take his grubby hands off of me, he spoke in a really soft yet serious voice, "I don't like anything salty. I would be terribly upset if your face tasted salty because of your tears. So don't cry, Miss Iris."

I was fuming by the time he was finished. This man had to be either the bravest pervert or the stupidest pervert on earth to utter those words to me and that too to my face. I had never felt so violated ever and I had faced my fair share of men hitting on me. But this was just plain ridiculous. How dare he imply that he would taste my face? And really who says anything like that anyways? Further more how dare he tell me to not cry? I never cry.

Before I could open my mouth to really tear him a new hole, he chuckled. This barmy spirit chuckled at me and he looked terribly cheery as he exclaimed, "See, now that is so much better. Now your cheeks look like strawberries. I love strawberries, Miss Iris."

That was it. That was the last straw. I growled out, "Take your filthy hands off me before I break every single finger of yours, you pervert."

His eyes literally dimmed at that and he immediately dropped his hands off of me as if he were burned. Then he had the gall to look at me like a hurt kitten. I had never in my life ever seen a grown man mimic such a look before. I swear on all things that are yummily chocolaty, he really did look like a hurt kitten. I was almost looking for a faint tear or to hear a soft mewl from him. Maybe it was the woman in me or the love I felt for animals that made me stare at him for a few seconds. I had to shake that feeling off of me before I could snap back at him, "Oh, quit giving me that look, pervert. And quit saying such lewd things to me if you want your balls to be round and free without my foot on them."

His eyes remained their innocent look as he pouted at me and retorted back childishly, "But it is Miss Iris who is saying indecent things about my genitals. Aaa… Miss Iris is so mean to me."

I gritted my teeth so hard that it was surprising that I didn't break a tooth or two. The man was infuriating. I hissed out as venomously as possible, "Follow me quietly and pray that I do not suddenly give into the temptation of strangling you with my bare hands."

He had a positively wicked gleam in his eyes when he nodded his head. I didn't know if he took my threat seriously and kept quiet or was he quiet to simply to watch me seethe with those calculating eyes of his; all I did know for sure was that he was successful in distracting me from the disconcerting fact about the frozen paintings and the still statues. Even though it was because of him I was calm now and capable of thinking rationally, I didn't like the fact that he had such control over me.

That morning as I made my way over to my grandmother's office, I realized something that left me both agitated as well as excited. Agitated because I was right about L being calculative and observant; it seemed like he had figured out a lot about me. And excited because I had realized that L was an enigma, and I just couldn't wait to figure him out. If I was going to be stuck with him for an unpredictable period of time, I might as well have my share of fun. It already seemed like he was having fun on my expense, so why the hell should I be behind?

I was so naïve to even think that all was going to be fun and games that dreadful morning. That morning I got the biggest shock of my life when I reached my grandmother's office. I didn't even know that all that I held dear in my life would be snatched away from me and everything in my life would be turned upside down. I was going to lose my family, my friends and probably my sanity too. And all that would keep me anchored and would be my saving grace would be this perverted barmy scheming panda of a spirit, L.


	4. The Perverted Panda Knight

Hey again...this chapter is a bit longer than all the previous chapters...but i hope you will enjoy reading it. And please review...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Deathnote...**

**My Protector**

It was very unnerving for me to make my way over to my grandmother's office. And this was only because I was trying very hard to avoid the fact that suddenly the mansion was dreadfully empty. It was too quiet. And of course there was also that small fact that the usual residents of the mansion were missing. Yes, by that I meant the paintings and the statues. I also noticed that the invisible spirits were not there too. I could usually hear them or at least feel them around me. While most people always said that the Ravenhart mansion had a slight haunting look to it, I never agreed with them. But that particular morning, I couldn't help but think the same thing. The mansion felt spooky.

I knocked on the door and waited for my grandmother to call me by that dreadful pet name. She called me her "darling flower". It was cute when I was five, but now it was just plain embarrassing. But what could I do? She's my grandmother, so I blame it on her going completely senile due to old age. And of course, there was that small matter of me loving her more than enough to put up with her embarrassing nick names. I waited for her response from the other side of the door. Strange how long that took. So I knocked again.

"You may enter, Iris!" I had never been more surprised at what came out of my grandmother's mouth. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing she said, but it definitely held the harshest tone she ever used on me. Dread filled the pits of my stomach once more as I slowly entered the room with the barmy panda look-alike at my tail. I always associated the words "safe" and "calm" to my grandmother's office. It really was that. I had grown up studying in that very same room with her working at her huge desk. For someone who engaged in strange magic mumbo-jumbo, her office was really very…normal.

I was surprised to see both Gilbert and my Uncle Vic in the room too. My grandmother as usual was at her desk. In that familiar big red chair of hers. I always secretly thought that chair looked like a throne and she really did look so very grand sitting in it. Regal. She had this air of a queen whenever she was seated in that very seat and of course there was that stern confidence that oozed from her voice whenever she talked with someone in this very office.

But none of that ever made me feel nervous. See, that was also the very same chair she would sit in and take me in her lap and read me stories when I was little. I really didn't know why I was feeling so nostalgic that very morning, but for some reason all the good memories that I had were kind of hitting me one after the other. I think it was kind of a defense mechanism that was working to calm me because of how unnerved I was feeling that particular morning.

I shivered as I noticed the sudden tension in the room. That I figured was why my grandmother was so harsh at calling me in. She looked very fierce at that very moment. She actually looked like she did when she was in a board meeting. Her face looked so strict and those eyes of hers were cold. Truthfully, for the first time in my life I felt a little scared of my grandmother. It was as if she didn't even know the fact that I was her own flesh and blood. As if I wasn't her "little flower".

Beside her stood Gilbert. He was in his usual black uniform. The crisp white shirt, with a light gray vest and a black tie; and on it was his fittingly tailored black coat with tails and those black slacks of his and last but not the least the perfectly polished black shoes. I always teased him that his shoes were so polished I could see my face in them. He always smiled at me. But that day his eyes weren't smiling at all. His face looked like it was carved out of marble, that was how much impassive he looked. He never ever looked that foreboding. Ever.

Gilbert was actually very young. He was in his early thirties. He was tall, six foot one inch to be precise. And I know that is because I always compared my pitiful height with his. My aim, when I was little was to be at least as tall as Gilbert. I am five foot two inches. Therefore, I failed at that particular aim, and quite spectacularly might I add. I blame my parents for giving me lousy genes. Anyway, Gilbert was always very caring when it came to me. He was almost a mother hen. He had beautiful red hair. And when I say red, I mean this shade of bronze that made most women envious. It was a delightful color, somewhere between deep maroon and a nice shiny chocolate brown. He always had it slicked back; I have never in my nineteen years of life seen his hair ever out of place. Not even a single strand. He had beautiful light green eyes too; they looked like gems when he smiled at me. He wore these silver framed fragile looking half-moon spectacles too. Somehow those glasses seemed like his special feature. My Gilbert wouldn't be my Gilbert without his glasses. He had broad shoulders too, and I know that because when I was young I used to ask him to carry me around the house while I sat on his shoulder. Sometimes I think I really was a very strange kid. Anyhow, for someone who had broad shoulders, he was deceptively lean looking. But I knew for a fact he was stronger than an ox. The man could carry frighteningly heavy objects without looking the least bit bothered. And I know from experience how hard that man can hit. He taught me the way of the swords after all. He was a scary guy to face off when he had a sword in his hands. Or any other utensil actually. He once told me there were 87 ways to kill a man with a pencil. How exactly, I never asked, it kind of freaked me out because I knew he was being completely serious. All I knew for sure was that if he knew that piece of information, he sure as hell would use it against whoever would dare to harm me. Or the Ravenhart family.

He also was extremely polite, charming and seemed borderline timid when you would first come across him. He was also very sly and manipulative. He would always manage to charm any woman, or for that matter even any man into doing things how he wanted them done. Gilbert was very handsome and so it never was surprising to me whenever women seemed to flock him if we ever went out. It was actually a favorite topic of mine to tease him about. He apparently did not like it when women seemed to throw themselves at him. The guy looked really adorable when he was flustered. This was probably why Gilbert usually didn't like to talk to women who were interested in him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Gilbert was also the stealthiest person I knew. He can always sneak up on you; I could never ever hear him make a sound if he moved. Also he had this thing about no one ever knowing his presence in a room unless he made them aware. Like I said, the stealthiest person I knew. And I kind of have a theory of him being superman. See, he never runs out of energy and he is always working around the mansion. And of course there is that little matter of him remembering everything about everything. All in all he is that one person who is in charge of everything that goes around in the mansion. He was also kind of in charge of me since I was a kid too. I could always remember the countless hours I spent with him. I chattered away while he listened to patiently and smiling at me as if I was saying the most important thing in the world. How he put up with an impish ten year old I'd never know. But I was grateful that he did. He gave me the one thing I probably wouldn't have had if he wasn't there. A friend. I could never forget Gilbert's soft lulling voice calling me "young Miss" or "Miss Iris" for as long as I lived. Gilbert was my butler, bodyguard, teacher, mentor and best friend all rolled in one.

Standing near a window, looking completely rigid was my Uncle Vic. Victor Paine was quite different from Gilbert. He was probably a year or two older than Gilbert. You see, Victor was one hell of an intimidating guy, very scary. He was tall. Very, very tall. A little over six foot seven inches. And he was proud of it too. He literally seemed like a giant. He was broad too and very muscular. The man was pure muscle. And for someone as big as he was, he was very graceful and fast. Agility always seemed to be more of Victor's thing. Compared to Gilbert's looks though, Victor's were a little bit rough around the edges, but he too was handsome. Victor had the longest hair I had ever seen on a man. It reached till his mid-back. And there was this funny thing I had noticed about his hair too. His hair actually changed a little with his mood. See, every time he was in public, it was this shinning soft golden tawny blonde that looked so silky that you'd have the strongest urge to touch it. He always tied it back with a black leather tie in a pony-tail; and with those loose strands that fell into his intense eyes, he looked really sophisticated. But when he was home, that is around us, he always let his hair loose. Then he looked really wild. That usually golden tawny blonde hair would turn into this dirty brown-blonde and would be all messy. And of course when at home he would rather wear his usual black jeans and dark t-shirts instead of the usual business suites he wore when he was at the office. I once told him that he was a shark at work and a retired rock star at home. He had laughed at me and then hugged me really hard. His eyes were this really dark shade of brown, almost black. And while Gilbert possessed softer facial features, Victor had stronger, sharper ones. Gilbert had pale skin like mine; Victor on the other hand had this nice tan. Oh and there was another reason why I compared Victor with a shark most of the time. He had a maniacal smile when he was in one of his moods. This particular smile was all teeth and his eyes gleamed with a wicked light and that smile always reminded one of a shark showing those two rows of sharp jagged, flesh-tearing teeth. Even if that smile made almost everybody start shivering with absolute fright, I grew up to love that smile. Because that was the smile that he gave me before he was about to teach me something new, or plan a prank with me, or mostly before he was going to make me his partner-in-crime in something that would make Gilbert and my grandmother very angry.

If I had known what I was going to go through that day, I would have given absolutely anything if I could have him give me that smile right at that moment in the room. But he didn't smile, and the things that happened that morning happened and no matter how much I wanted to deny it all, it still was the reality. My whole world crashed right before my eyes as I bared it all helplessly. The one thing I never thought I ever would be was being helpless, and that was all I was at that very moment. I was weak. I was broken and I was utterly helpless.

I could tell that something was very, very wrong. But nobody seemed to say even a word and I was no better, I couldn't just open my damned mouth and ask what it was. My grandmother looked absolutely cold as she glared at me. I almost felt like I was the very dirt underneath her shoes. Gilbert looked deceptively pokerfaced and Victor wouldn't even face me. I was looking here and there, everywhere. At my family before me and at every single unimportant item in the room. I was trying to gather all the courage that I had in my body to ask them what was wrong. And the damned tension in the room felt so suffocating, it was ridiculous. Then suddenly, I felt a poke to the small of my back. Yet I was frozen stiff, unable to break away from the receiving end of my grandmother's glare. And then again, and again and again, the constant poking got sharper and sharper until it became almost a painful jab to my back. That barmy spirit was poking me with a face that held almost child-like curiosity. The bastard was poking just for the heck of it, I was sure of that. He only stopped when I glared at him and then he had the nerve to look mildly hurt at that. The annoying jerk. For a moment there I had forgotten the main purpose of being in that very room and I had quite a good retort to throw back at that nuisance of a man, but before I could do that I got the biggest shock of my life right at that moment. My grandmother, for the first time in my life, snapped at me. And quite harshly at that.

"Stop acting like an obnoxious child and explain why exactly you are in my presence, Iris." I was frozen shocked. Half my mind was in complete denial of the fact that for the first time in my life I was being snapped at by my grandmother. The other half of my mind on the other hand was in complete turmoil. I was hurt and felt humiliated, also frustrated at the fact that I didn't know what did I do to deserve such a treatment from her. I wanted to snap back at her, throw a witty or sarcastic response back at her or yell at her for being so harsh to me, but for some reason the look in my grandmother's eyes were paralyzing me with fear. That's right, I was afraid of her. Of how her eyes looked so cold; it was as if I wasn't even her flesh and blood; as if I was a stranger who had displeased her immensely. Someone she wouldn't even have the slightest hesitance to hurt. Those usually familiar soft gray eyes of her had looked so dark and foreboding. They were so ruthless.

I just couldn't seem to bring out a single word out of my mouth and all the while I was staring right into her eyes, eyes that were filled with a distaste that was slowly but steadily making that fear in me grow. This strange encounter with my grandmother proved at least one of my theories right though. The barmy panda man was very observant and perceptive. His eyes really were calculative, he felt my inner-turmoil quite easily and to offer me some sort of comfort or just to maybe break me out of the shell I got into, he placed his rather cold hand on my shoulder. Those long and nimble fingers of his caressed the curve of my shoulder in the strangest way. Almost tickling, he traced that damned curve of my shoulder a few times. Whatever he did worked, because I had snapped out of that maze from my mind and snapped my eyes right back at his face and glared lightly at him. He just gave me a clueless smile and leered at me like an absolute pervert. I smacked his hand away from my body and stepped away from him and gave him a harder glare. Even though he was a pervert, and quite the barmy one, we both knew that he had helped me in that moment. And for that once I decided not to yell at him for putting his hands on my body. I don't know what kind of spirit he was, but I could feel the very imprint of those spidery-fingers of his on my skin for a long time. He most certainly was a strange one.

I finally calmed the storm brewing inside me and faced my grandmother with steeled-determination and asked her in a voice that I was sure almost mimicked Gilbert's in its impassiveness, "I'm here to inquire about the spirit I was assigned by you, Grandmamma! Because if I remember correctly, I never asked for one and I demand an explanation for your rather clinically batty actions."

I was pleased with my retort. Like her I had made my point very clear, had defended myself and insulted her a little and didn't get the least bit emotional. Therefore, it was rather shocking for me when my grandmother reacted. She sneered at me with those eyes filled with displeasure, "You demand an explanation? Who do you think you are talking to, you insolent child? You are in no position to demand anything from anyone. It would be for your own good if you kept that mouth of yours shut and let us deal with things as we see fit."

I gasped quite loudly at that. Who was this woman before me? She most definitely was not my grandmother. There must have been a reason for her acting so cruelly towards me and for no reason at that. Victor always told me to read in between the lines; maybe it was my utter denial at my family being so cruel to me but I had a delusional theory that maybe my grandmother was just putting on an act for some reason that she just couldn't unfold right at that point. I clung onto that theory with all the faith I had and desperately sent my mind on over-work mode to find that very reason for this act.

I was stuttering and I looked at Gilbert and Victor for help, but there was none. They stood in their original positions, not even being the slightest bit affected at how I was being treated. Maybe I was being exceedingly childish and weak at being scolded a little by my last blood relative, but I needed an explanation for what was happening. That man behind me, I don't know what he was, but his mere presence helped a lot. For some unknown reason, him standing right behind me gave me a sliver of courage and strength to stand up straight and face the woman before me.

I cleared my throat once and asked in a cold voice that I knew matched my grandmother's, because she looked taken back for a moment, "Position or no position, since you have already included me in whatever that you are involved in by attaching this spirit to me, I might as well be told what exactly is going on. And forgive me for being an insolent child, but since I have seen a few examples of the way all of you are dealing with things, I can fairly say that things cannot get anymore worse for me. The paintings outside are all frozen, so are the statues. The entire house is filled with a fog of tension and dread and to top it all now I have a summoned spirit on my tail. Therefore, I cannot just shut my mouth and wait for you to make a mess of things furthermore than they already are. I want to help, so tell me what is going on!"

I had never before seen my grandmother so livid. Her face was flushed and her eyes were like burning coals and that beautiful face of hers was wrinkled harshly as she slammed her hands loudly on the desk. Honestly speaking, that kind of did scare me a bit, but I had to hold my ground and deal with whatever they were dishing out. But what came as a surprise to me was how L reacted to me grandmother. In a flash, he had his body before mine. He was still in that odd slouch, but my fighting instincts told me that his body was in a position where he could easily leap towards the assaulter before him or push me back to defend me with his body. One of his hands was around my waist, pressing me into his body in a protective stance. To my utter amazement, he was glaring at my grandmother relentlessly. Was he protecting me from my own grandmother? The very person who was his summoner?

My grandmother looked taken aback at L's reaction like I was. Hell, even Gilbert looked a bit surprised, but I only noticed that because I knew him so well, he had his mask of indifference slip for the slightest second and put it back in place with lightening speed. But the strangest of all, Victor was staring with cold eyes at L and his stance. I knew that look of Victor's; it was his appraisal of the opponent look.

My grandmother's voice brought my attention back to her face, I noticed that all of a sudden her temper had calmed a bit, why I didn't know. She sneered at me, "Enough from you, you petulant child! You have no idea what is going on and you are powerless. Be grateful for the protection we have provided you so far, otherwise you would have been dead long ago!"

I was dumbfounded and I did not know what exactly was going on. And I certainly did not understand the nonsense my grandmother was spewing. I vindictively fancied a thought that maybe my grandmother had finally lost her sanity. She continued to rant, "I am the Head of the Ravenhart family, the greatest of the guardians of the supernatural world. And your parents were two of the strongest supernaturals in the world and their spiritual energies were off the charts and here you are, their only child. The child birthed from the union that had everyone on the very edge of their seats. They killed your parents only because of how powerful they were and how powerful you would become. You are my descendant, yet you are powerless. You have my blood running in your veins, yet you posses none of our powers. Not a drop of spiritual power in your pitiful mortal body. You aren't a supernatural at all; you are but a mere human. A weak human who thinks she can take on anything and the only reason for that is because you posses the Ravenhart name."

"All that strength that you say you posses is nothing. You are a weak human who can bleed, be broken and can be killed very easily. All that misguided arrogance of yours; you only have because it was Victor, Gilbert and I standing right behind you. In fact the very reason you are standing right before me is because Gilbert, Victor and I always saved you from every one of those supernatural that tried to kill you for parentage that you have. And you couldn't even save yourself. If you had even an inkling of power that your parents had then maybe we could have trained you just enough for you to defend yourself or to be of some use to us. But in the end you are nothing but a burden. And I cannot just let you die because you are my granddaughter and I love you. So please for once be of some help and just let us deal with the problems and try and not do anything. At all."

I always knew there was something different about my grandmother, Victor and Gilbert. But I never wanted to admit that in my strange family it was I who was different, not them. God, every word out her lips were nothing but the truth and they were like bullets piercing through my body again and again. She was right about my arrogance. But that was only because I did think I was better than other normal humans and they had raised me to be always strong no matter what. What she told me about my parents was something I hadn't known about before and it was tearing me apart. I was told they had died in a car accident. I took in a haggard breath and was making my mind accept the truth to my parents' death. But I was failing miserably because of that shooting pain I felt in my chest. I was hurting because of my grandmother's words.

But what hurt me most was the fact that I really was that weak and useless. So much as that I was a burden to all of them and that it was causing them that much strain to keep me alive. I didn't even notice that I was trembling so badly and that there were tears rolling down my cheeks. I was biting really hard on my lip to keep from whimpering and my fists were clenched. I didn't know what to do or what to say; hell I didn't even know what to do with my body. But in all of that havoc of my mind, it was L who knew exactly what to do. Kind of ironic, because of all the people in the room, it was him who was the stranger.

He had in that usual swift style of his, swept me completely in his arms, making me lean into him so that he carried all of my weight. My trembling somewhat subsided due to his tight hold. Normally people whisper comforting words to you when you are crying and are devastated, but not L. The man was different. One of his hands was doing that caressing thing again, drawing patterns with his thumb on my shoulder; the other hand was on the curve of my waist. He was drawing patterns on my waist, and I distinctly remember one or two of his fingers slipping under the hem of my t-shirt. To add more to his unique behavior, the man had me tuck my head right under his jaw while he rubbed his nose into my hair. It was as if he was snuggling into my hair. A second later I found out exactly what he was doing with my hair, the loon was sniffing my hair and sighing contently. That man was nothing but a pervert who had long spidery fingers which were always doing odd things on my skin and he seemed to think he had completely right as to touch me whenever he wanted. The freaking creep.

But one thing though, no matter how much of a pervert he was and how strange his way of calming me down when I was having an almost nervous breakdown, it was just that, his touch for once was calming me down. It was soothing me and in a way was a source of comfort in my time of distress. So I was grateful and didn't bite his head off. And just when I had stop trembling completely and had relaxed in his arms he just had to open that damned mouth of his and make things worse. He said in that deep and smooth voice of his, "Aaa…now Miss Iris is all salty from all those tears! At least you still smell sweet!"

Before I could push him off and find the pair of scissors to cut out his tongue with, I distinctly heard a growl. A growl that was too threatening and painfully familiar. I frantically looked at the source; it was Victor and he was finally looking at me and he had a reaction to something. He was glaring daggers at L and his stance was extremely threatening. My gaze flitted towards Gilbert; he too was glaring at the pervert holding me. My grandmother, on the other hand looked deceptively impassive. I was painfully mortified; they had heard what this lewd man had said to me. No wonder they were reacting with so much hostility.

I jabbed my elbow sharply into the said lewd man's ribs. And I must say, I was immensely satisfied with loud grunt of pain he gave. This L, he kept on surprising me. He didn't even look at me after that, he gave his complete attention to my grandmother and requested in an overly formal tone, "Please answer all of the questions Miss Iris has, Morganna Ravenhart!"

That request was more of a challenge. This loon was standing up for me and demanding answers from my grandmother on my behalf. And he didn't even know me. Where my own family was hell bent on hurting me so much that morning, he was the only one who was defending me and fighting for me. I couldn't help but feel grateful to him amidst all that hurt that was coursing through my body. Even in all the confusion in my mind there was a small past of my mind that said stubbornly that I could trust L. I could trust L because he was adamant about keeping his word to me. I could suddenly hear what he had told me previously in my bedroom. But this time the voice was a soft whisper filled with steely determination, "I have to protect you, Miss Iris. From whatever harm that may come your way."

And my whole world changed right after that one moment. That was the moment I had accepted L into my life. As a pestering lewd man who was my friend. My friend and my ally. I decided in that moment, that I would protect him to my best of abilities like he would do for me. I couldn't just be scared and give up when he was fighting for me. I would be strong for him and with him I would find a way out of this strange predicament before me. After all if the panda wasn't scared then why should I be?

But that didn't mean I would tolerate him harassing me. For all his noble intent and bravery and strong will, he was still a pervert.


	5. Raspberries, Claws and Crazy Plans

Hey readers, well this is the next update of the story and I hope things start to make a little sense now and you will see L taking control in this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it and please do review. IT would encourage me to write more and update faster. Thanks a bunch.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

My grandmother smiled a dark little smile which wasn't doing anything to help my nerves. In fact it was making things worse. She smirked and commented lightly, "Well, at least there is one thing that you did right, Iris. In fact, you did better than expected. You have made a great connection with your spirit guardian. He is even willing to fight with the one who summoned him for you. A job well done, child!"

I scowled at her. That was not a compliment at all. If anything that was another attempt to get me down. And I was desperately hoping for it to not work. She called me a child, again. That was getting on my very last nerve. I took in a deep breath and did what Victor had taught me. Sometimes the world would throw you into a game which you know nothing about, in that case, you always play by your opponents rules and study their strategies and do everything to win. I had taken the decision to not be weak; I would not prove my grandmother's words true. I would under no circumstance be weak to this torture she was putting me through. My rage was a better emotion to channel at that point and that was what I did. I snapped back sarcastically, "Thank you, Grandmamma! I live for your backhanded compliments! Now that finally I have you on that topic, please do tell me more of this summoning you performed. For example, why exactly I have L here protecting me from you?"

She continued to smile that creepy smile and replied back not even bothered by my sarcasm, "L, here has three special merits for which he was summoned to protect you, Iris. One is that L in his prior life was already aware of the supernatural world. He had encountered something of the supernatural kind, isn't that right, L?"

She was giving L a sly look, which I noticed caused L's glare to harden and he nodded. She continued, "Two being that, L here has the potential to harvest great powers to protect you. After all, he already had a high spiritual awareness as a human back when he was alive. And if I am correct, as a child he was a child quite different from other normal human children. Am I right again, L?"

Once again, L nodded. To my irritation, it seemed like she was enjoying this way too much. And so far her reasons were making sense. And I noticed she was giving out answers to pacify L, but no answers regarding me. That made me feel quite enraged, but it took me a moment to figure that L deserved his answers as much as I did. In fact, he deserved those answers more than I did; after all he was forced into this situation; brought back from his eternal slumber to be attached to a girl like me. To deal with problems which were none of his business! That thought kind of made my heart clench for him. He was so willing to just do his job. He never once complained about this situation like I did. I promised myself right then that I would find out more about him, no matter how evasive he would be. I wanted to make things easier for him. If he was taking so many steps to help me out, I'd be damned if I didn't do the same for him.

My grandmother continued to explain, "And finally, L has a character trait. He is extremely childish and hates losing. Some would call it being strong-willed. Regardless, to make things work in our favor, we gave him only one purpose in the game and that is to protect Iris Ravenhart. That is the intent of his summoning and to strengthen the bond even more so, we bonded him to your spirit. He will protect you for as long as you live, Iris."

I was horrified at my grandmother's words. How could she do something so horrid to poor L? How could she just drag him out and just manipulate him like that? How could she bind him to me without his consent? How could she use him to that extent? But I didn't get any more time to ponder on that line of thought, L replied quiet monotonously, "You are stating all the things that I already know, Morganna Ravenhart. Tell us the things that Miss Iris wants to know. Tell us the reason for the need of protecting Miss Iris."

My grandmother dropped her smile and replied in a tone that was similar to the one I had used before, Damn, I could see the resemblance between us. "Iris is in a position where she could be hurt and that is why you were summoned, L."

I couldn't help but snap back at her evasiveness, "Just tell me the real reason behind the sudden security upgrades for me, Grandmamma!"

She sighed and replied in a crisp tone, "There are certain groups of supernaturals who have different jobs to do in this world. We are quite different from the humans and do our best to keep our existence from the humans. Of course, there are always cases such as L here, where certain humans are born with special powers and with their exception; we never let a human know of our existence. There is also another exception when our life partner turns to be a human. But regardless, while we are stronger than humans, we should never take that for granted. We should never hurt any human without reason. We should never misuse our powers. That is the very reason why we keep our secrets hidden away from humans. And so we have rules the supernaturals need to abide by. While the Ravenhart family is one of the oldest family and we always had a seat in the council of the supernaturals, there are certain people who oppose us. The Ravenhart have always maintained order amongst the supernaturals. Our job was to catch the wrong-doers. The ones who break the rules. In a way, the Ravenharts were the ones who were the supernatural law enforcers and detectives. But, it all changed when the Kraken family decided that they wanted that position since according to them, the Ravenharts were not doing the job right. They have different visions for this world and the humans. Their motives are impure and evil. Their views on humans are disgusting and loathsome. They care not the slightest for the value of the life of a mere human. They do not hesitate to maim, torture or play with a human just for their sadistic pleasure. They want a world where the humans are slaves to us, supernaturals. A world where the supernaturals would rule over the humans. For achieving that, the first step is to change the rules and create new rules and so they want the Ravenhart family's position and power. And they aren't the least bit bothered to play dirty to get what they want."

She looked at me; she stared straight into my eyes and said, "Your mother and your aunts always helped me run this family. But then, my heir, the one who would take my place, was killed. Your mother was killed and as this seat can only be taken by a woman. You were the next to take my place. My heir. But, despite your lineage, you are not fit to take this seat. Most of the supernatural world doesn't know of this fact. But the Krakens had proposed this point before the Council. Stating that the Ravenharts, the true bloodline is dying out and the ones alive aren't strong enough to carry out such a duty. It was never an issue before, Iris. But now the Krakens have taken worse measure to make sure that the Ravenharts are thrown off the map. They are waging war with us and I will do whatever it takes to protect you. I summoned L for that very reason. His job is to protect you from anything that tries to harm you."

I couldn't help but feel a little better after that explanation. I was right; she did have a reason for all of this. She cared for me. She just wanted me to be safe and I couldn't hate her for that. She explained more, "There is very little chance, almost non-existent in fact, of you gaining your spiritual powers. Of you being able to be as fast or as strong as I am. Of you casting the spells I can cast, or having any other supernatural ability for that matter. I am in a position where I have to choose an heir and later fight out this war, or everything will be lost. I need a true heir even if she is not in blood. I have informed every member of the Ravenhart name that I will be choosing my heir by the time of the prince's royal crowning. That's fairly around three years away, which gives me ample opportunity to stall the council from replacing the Ravenharts with the Krakens. Now, all that we have to do is win all the confrontations we have with the Krakens. All my detectives, inspectors and employees are aware of all of this, except of as to why you are unable to take my seat. The only thought they have is that I am giving everybody a fair chance to become the head of the Ravenhart family. That is, they think I am giving whoever is most capable my seat. So, this way I know for sure that they will give their best against the Krakens. "

I could see the pain and disappointment in my grandmother's eyes. It was tearing me apart knowing that I was the cause of all of this. Because of my ineptness, my weakness my family had to suffer. The Krakens were taking advantage of my flaw to over throw my family. I also knew how much my grandmother detested even the thought of someone other than her own blood taking her seat. It hurt her to know that, she had raised me to have pride in the Ravenhart name. To be confident of my abilities and myself. She knew she didn't raise a timid girl who was scared of her own shadow and couldn't even think for herself. She had raised a girl whom she assumed was a smart, strong-willed, brave and resourceful girl. She always called me a force to be reckoned with if I had my mind set on something. But all of that was proven wrong now. She was proven wrong. The girl she raised only thought she was strong, but she lacked the strength to follow things through. I could see so much pain in her eyes. And showing pain was a weakness, especially when you have to strategize. So I watched as all that pain turned into cold rage and heavy disgust.

I could understand her manipulation and strategy very clearly. My mind was in complete turmoil over how to help. To get these damned Krakens off our tails. I knew I was going into over-protective mode over my family and its status. I just couldn't sit back and watch someone harm my family. But what could I possibly do? I was powerless. But I wondered for a moment what exactly one had to do to prove themselves worthy of sitting in the very seat my grandmother was sitting in.

I was planning. Thinking about the best possible way of asking my grandmother about what I needed to do, how I needed to be to be her heir. I mean, she did say, she had three years and that all she needed to do right now was beat the Krakens at whatever they decided to throw at us. I was very hesitant about even bringing this topic up, because I knew my grandmother would laugh, demean me and tell me what a fool I am to even consider competing against magic people with nothing but sheer will. She'd call me a stupid martyr. I didn't even notice the fact that I was biting my lower lip so much. Honestly, it was an old habit, one that both Gilbert and my grandmother told me I got from my mother. And as old habits go, the harder I thought the more I was biting on my lip. And guess what?

All that concentration and all that thinking was blown away from my mind by a simple line that the new bane of my very existence uttered. I think he lived to harass me. And the more people he humiliated me in front of the better.

"Raspberries. Your lips look like raspberries now, Miss Iris. The reddest, sweetest, juiciest raspberries. The kind that goes fantastically with vanilla ice-cream. Oh, but you already smell like vanilla, Miss Iris! Oh, so good!"

I stared at him horrified, unable to utter even a single noise out of my mouth. He was staring blatantly at me, to be specific at my mouth. The creep was leaning into me and leering at my mouth. His once gray eyes looked so black as he stared intensely at my mouth. Blood was rushing all to my face and I could hear my heart thud loudly over and over again in my ears. And with a shiver I noticed how his voice was all dark and smooth, velvety and longing, and dear god he almost moaned at the end. I felt that awful fluttery feeling in my stomach again. I did not like that weird feeling at all. And with that painful realization, I immediately pressed the same lips he was practically salivating over, together as tight as possible, so that they were in an even thin line and glared at him. No way in the deepest pits of hell would I let him even look at my lips after he said…that. That too in front of my own grandmother. Had the man no shame at all? Why in hell's name, did he get all perverse when there was such an important matter at hand? I fancied a guess that maybe all spirits were as perverted as he was. Or maybe he was really sexually deprived in his past life, maybe he died a virgin and that was why he was being so lewd in this new life he got.

I could hear the loud growl resonating around the room and I knew the source of that growl without even looking. It was Victor; and I was surprised at his lack of action. Normally he would have beaten this guy into a bloody pulp for even less than what he had already done. I could hear the distinct sounds of sharp crackling, and I knew Victor was cracking his knuckles and there was that distinct sound of him grinding and gritting his teeth. I was panicking, I knew he was holding back and I also knew if I didn't just do something to L, Victor wouldn't have any molars left by the end of this and later he would kill L. I glanced at Gilbert for a quick help, and I almost gasped with fear. Gilbert's right eye was twitching and his lips were in a crisp line. Oh lord and all that was holy, Gilbert only looked like that when he was about to dislocate a couple of Victor's bones. Gilbert was pissed. My grandmother was openly smiling. The sadistic old hag. She was enjoying this way too much.

I finally lost it and practically snarled at him, "I am going to gouge your eye-balls out and make you swallow them and then I'll slice off that tongue of yours and stuff it down your throat, L!"

He looked like a hurt puppy and replied, "But, Miss Iris that sounds particularly painful!"

I snapped back, "That was the point of that entire statement, you loon!"

He freaking pouted at me and said in that childish voice, "L says so many good things to Miss Iris, but all Miss Iris does is be mean to L. Not fair!"

I poked him hard in the shoulder and retorted, "Then take a hint and stop saying such things to Miss Iris and Miss Iris will stop being mean to L."

He blinked like an owl a couple of times, and then smiled a smile that suddenly reminded me of Gilbert. That smile was far too wicked and in ways enigmatic to be L's smile. L, the barmy perverted panda man was back to his scheming ways. He had a plan and he was going to execute it. It was odd how I both felt dread and excitement both fill the pit of my stomach at the same time.

Those grey eyes of his were twinkling in that odd way again. I raised my chin for the slightest bit as an acknowledgement to his smile. He asked me in a confident voice, "So, Miss Iris wouldn't like to hear the idea L has, now would she?"

I smirked darkly and replied in a similar tone, "Since, Miss Iris knows that L is baiting her, she will leave it to L as to whether he will or will not risk the safety of his genitals by sharing his idea with Miss Iris!"

L chuckled and bit his thumb in that familiar way and replied, "I'll take my chances, Miss Iris!"

He faced my amused grandmother and asked in a crisp voice, "What if you could show results to the Council and the Krakens and anybody else that would confirm the fact that Miss Iris Ravenhart is indeed capable of being the head of the Ravenhart family and that she will take your place in the future?"

Okay, now that really surprised me and filled me with a new sense of hope. And I silently was jumping with sheer joy in side. The heavy burden on my shoulders seemed to elate. It made sense, if there was anybody who was on the middle ground of this entire situation, it was L. He was the outsider. The one who wasn't on the side of my grandmother who was bound by rules and he wasn't in my helpless situation. He really could help and maybe, just maybe his idea might be crazy enough to work. I could have almost kissed him for making this big an effort.

That was the very thought that brought me to a bitter decision. If he really was going to go through all that trouble for me, the least I could do is not snap when he touched me. I mean, I could stomach his touch on appropriate places of my body if he was going to be this useful. Maybe on my shoulders and on my back and maybe on my cheeks. But not any other place. I had a strange idea that maybe being perverse was the key that jump-starts his brain. Or maybe lewd comments and good ideas or actions came from him at the same time. I felt my mind give a mental shake at that thought. And I firmly drew the line at those disgusting remarks. I really didn't get the logic of him comparing me to strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, chocolate truffles and god only knows what else. And the worst thing was I remembered each and every one of the crazy things he compared me to. That alone should scar me for life. I really would throttle him if the next time I was eating a chocolate truffle and suddenly imagined it to be my eye. Regardless of all of that, I was grateful to L for trying to help me.

L's words though rendered my grandmother completely speechless. In fact her entire face went pale, well paler than pale. Almost ghostly white. And damn I never knew her eyes could get that big. Her eyes were quickly filling up with a twinkle that matched L's. My eyes drifted over to Gilbert, he looked awe-struck and was running his eyes shrewdly over L's body again and again. I noticed though, he looked a little more relaxed. But it was Victor who surprised me the most. He wasn't looking at L at all. He was staring at me. And for the first time that day, he smiled a small smile at me. I have never associated the word 'weak' to Victor at all, ever. It just wasn't possible. But at that moment I noticed how weak he probably felt when he couldn't help me, and this strange spirit was the only one who was protecting me, as well as helping me. That alone, must have hurt Victor a lot. The truth of my relationship with Victor was that even though I was his god-daughter, Victor always thought of me as his daughter. And I knew that because sometimes when we went out for a pizza or dinner or for desserts, he would sometimes refer to me as his daughter or his baby girl to other people when he thought I wasn't listening. He was a parental figure to me.

Victor growled and gruffly spat out at L, "You better pray that this wacky idea of yours makes sense and that it works or otherwise there will not be any force on this world or any other world which will save you from my claws, you sorry excuse of a spirit!"

L nodded sagely and didn't even spare a glance at Victor as he said, "It will work, Mr. Long-hair man with claws! And to make it work I will need a couple of resources and a few people to follow explicitly given orders."

I was choking when I heard the name L had given Victor; I swear the man was either too brave or too stupid. My grandmother didn't even let Victor have enough time to jump onto L and have a brawl right then and there. She slammed her palm on the desk and snapped, "You will get whatever is that you want to make this plan work. But first give me all the details and explain how exactly are you going to pass off my almost human granddaughter as a supernatural, a powerful one at that to the Council and the Krakens?"

Victor gave L a sharp look at that and I stared at him with curious eyes too. He stated lazily, "It all is rather simple actually, Morganna Ravenhart! Miss Iris is not entirely without spiritual powers or spiritual awareness. We only need to tip the scales a bit here and there and create a picture that will crush the point the Krakens have presented to the Council about the Ravenharts not having a proper heiress!"

I couldn't help but feel confused and snapped irritably, "Elaborate please!"

L looked like he finally was at the centre of the stage. This was his game, what he was good at. No, not good. The best at. He humored me and explained, "Ravenharts are upholders of the laws for the supernaturals and the detectives who maintain order. So what if like every other detective who works for Morganna Ravenhart, Miss Iris starts working for Morganna Ravenhart too. Miss Iris will solve cases and catch all the law breakers with her team and three years is a long time. In that time, Miss Iris will be the most successful detective the Ravenhart family has ever had. Miss Iris will become someone who will demand respect and intimidate anyone just by her name. You, Morganna Ravenhart will only need to pass the inspection of the Council like that and Miss Iris will earn the title of the heiress rightfully so. Not only because of her blood, but because of her abilities too."

I was stuttering. My mind was a big mush. Mushy-mushy-mush. What in Hades' name was he talking about and how in Poseidon's name would I pull that off? Detective and me? That too a supernatural detective, was he on drugs or something? I was raised to takeover a Pharmaceutical Business, not to become a detective! He was seriously barmy. His idea was crazy.

But one look at the three people before me confirmed something in me. I'd become a detective and the best damned one there was even if it killed me. Because the mere idea of it was making my grandmother's face glow with joy and hey eyes glint with triumph. The words out of L's mouth were making Gilbert's face take on a determined edge. The hope of this plan was what made Victor completely calm down and stare at me with the confident smirk he usually sported. Oh great Buddha, L was going to turn me into a detective.

I heard L continue, "Miss Iris has spiritual power locked in her; I can feel it. Like I can feel yours, Morganna Ravenhart. Or yours, Mr. Red-hair person. She has the power but it feels like it is behind this really thick wall. All we need to do is, take our time and break that wall down and make her power come out."

My grandmother snapped her fingers in what was an eureka moment and hissed, "That's it. That was why we couldn't find any level of spiritual energy in her. It's all locked away. And L can feel it because he is bonded with her spirit. Now it all makes sense."

I swallowed thickly and made my mind run through the things L said. He was making more than enough sense and he was scrutinizing me since this morning when he found me in bed. Maybe that was what he was calculating. Or studying. I hoarsely asked, "But what about the detective work?"

L giggled a creepy girly giggle and leered at me. He said softly, "Don't worry, Miss Iris. L will teach you all there is about being a great detective and you will have a team that will follow all your orders. Let me handle all of that, Miss Iris. I promise, I will be a great teacher."

For some reason that felt like the worst pick-up line ever used by man-kind than an offer to help. It didn't make me feel all relaxed and calm at all. I snapped back harshly, "Please do not traumatize me about thoughts of you being a teacher. If you were one, gods help the poor students you would teach. They'd be scarred for life."

L smirked smugly at me. I felt like decking him. He only ran a finger softly down my blushing cheek and whispered, "Aah…how adorable you are, Miss Iris!"

Victor suddenly snarled out, "Get your filthy hands off of her and stop uttering such filthy things. Iris is all innocent. I do not want you corrupting her, you fiend!"

I shot a small smile at Victor for being so protective of me but L just pouted like a child and whined, "How am I the fiend when it is Miss Iris who always makes inappropriate comments about my genitals?"

My grandmother, the traitor that she was, gave out a sharp laugh and added, "He's got a point!"

I was fuming when L nodded his head eagerly and added, "And that proves that Miss Iris cannot be all that innocent. Inexperienced, yes. Innocent, not so much. You should hear some of the dirty things she says she would do to me!"

I had to use almost all of my self-control to not sucker punch the guy. In a way I was getting used to his rather perverse ways. I realized he was my friend, a friend who was odd and even odder mannerisms. Someone who was going to risk his neck to help me. Someone who was coming up with crazy schemes to save my family and me. Someone who was probably going to save the human species from being slaves to cruel supernatural beings. So I just snarled out, "Those were threats, you bastard! Don't make it sound like I propositioned you or something. And quiet talking about me as if I am not here, L!"

Something told me that this was only the start of a journey that would be quite memorable. A traumatic, crazy and downright frightening journey, but a journey that I'd never ever forget. And I could honestly say that I was actually looking forward to it.


	6. Brunch, History and Tomato Juice

Hey readers! This has to be the longest chapter I have ever written. I am hoping this will clear out a lot of the things that I have been hinting on. And this chapter also gives a lot of insight on some of the characters. I hope you enjoy reading it and please do review. Happy reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

I don't know how is that we were in the middle of discussing L's crazy plan and practically in a meeting of war strategies, that my grandmother demanded we have brunch. How could anyone possibly think of brunch in the middle of a serious discussion? And how was that I was the only one in that room who even understood the importance of the matter at hand? Just when the word brunch passed my grandmother's lips, Gilbert sprang into action seemingly disappeared from the room and went along to prepare brunch. Victor, having that bottomless pit for a stomach, looked disgustingly starved. He was almost drooling as his stomach was rumbling so loud that it seemed like he had some sort of animal trapped in his stomach. And L looked giddy as he asked if he could have some cake, preferably strawberry shortcake. I was the only one who looked absolutely lost as they chatted nonchalantly about brunch. About who liked to eat what and how all of them were hungry all of a sudden because all of them missed breakfast. At the topic of missing breakfast, surprisingly all of them were glaring at me as if it was my fault that they missed breakfast.

On that note, who eats cake for brunch? And can spirits even eat? I followed my grandmother, L and Victor out of the room in a daze. My grandmother seemed far too pleased with L. Something that for some reason made me terribly uneasy. Maybe because I knew how much of an imp my grandmother could be and together with L she could embarrass me to death. Victor looked ignorant as usual, but I did notice the sharp glances he threw at L every now and then. I knew for a fact that Victor was only waiting for the right moment to pounce on L. Strictly metaphorically speaking, of course. Victor would fire one question after the other at L about his abilities and his past. And probably about his sanity too. The man was too much of a loon to take seriously sometimes. But, sometimes I got this distinct feeling, like a cold shiver travelling down my spine that tells me that this eccentricity of L's, his lunatic behavior is all an act. One to throw people off their game.

I don't know if that works on other people, but one thing that I do know for sure is that his perverted ways sure do make me lose my composure. But, like I said, I'd put up with him as much as I could, after all, the guy really was trying to help us so much. There were so many questions I had to ask my grandmother, but I noticed that she was almost avoiding me or at least pushing me aside. I really detested the way she thought she was keeping me safe by keeping information from me. Really, how does she expect that method to work? That too, on a person like me?

That day we had our brunch in the garden. This was kind of strange; the particular section of the huge garden we were having our brunch at was different from how it was every other day. You see, usually that section was livelier than all the other sections. It was bright, cheery, with a light breeze always blowing in and a very light sunshine almost always shining on and the birds were always chirping. But that day, there was a thick fog swimming around our knees, the air was thick and moist, the grass and the flowers had a very dull color to them and there was no chirping of birds or anything. It felt strange. Almost as if we were at the set of some morbid horror film. I had a strange thought of this being the garden of the Addams family. With all of the spirit summoning and supernatural talk, it might as well be a scene right out the Addams family world.

I munched on a bagel impatiently as I watched my family heartily eat their food. Victor was mounting his plate high with food and as soon as it disappeared from his stuffing his mouth, he'd repeat the process all over again. I wasn't surprised at his enormous appetite, I've seen him eat since I was a child, but there were still a few times when I wondered just how he could eat that much. My grandmother daintily was finishing her meal, drinking her tomato juice every now and then. I hated tomato juice, how she drank that vile drink every morning was beyond me. I scowled at her and she noticed my look and just to bait me took a long slow sip of her drink and gave me a smug smile in return. Well, to hell with her and her tomato juice, I was very happy with my orange juice. I loved it. Oranges were so much better than tomatoes; and everyone knew that.

Gilbert as usual was being the perfect butler. I hated the fact that he wouldn't sit with us for our meals, not that we never tried to get him to sit. We did try, numerous times in fact. And failed spectacularly every time. Gilbert was impossibly stubborn and according to him there just were some things that simply were not done. But even he couldn't resist my pouting, he does let me sit with him in the kitchens every now and then and eat something with him. I have so many memories of eating snacks with him or drinking hot chocolate with him in the kitchen. That table near that big window in the kitchen was Gilbert's and my special spot. That day, he was standing behind Victor and as usual pouring us a drink or putting whatever we wanted on our plates; but that day Gilbert was in quite the fix. He looked very adorable when he was confused, by the way. And I had rarely if ever seen Gilbert being confused. My grandmother seemed oblivious to what was happening at the table while Victor glared at the new person at the table. I tried so very hard not to stare, but I couldn't help it.

L was sitting in his chair in that odd way again. That familiar way of crouching and sitting on the tips of his toes. How did a tall person like him curl himself into such a position puzzled me. So I couldn't help it and commented, "L, sitting like that must be painful."

He looked at me and smiled coyly, "Miss Iris worries so much about L. But, L finds sitting like this comfortable."

I sighed and left him to his own odd antics, but Victor wasn't done with him and snapped, "Why would you sit like that in the first place?"

L shrugged and answered, "It helps me think better."

I couldn't help but smile at his odd but logical explanation; my grandmother seemed to agree with me. She smiled softly and said, "Oh, leave L be, Victor! Whatever helps him think better is more beneficial to us!"

I scowled for a moment, how could she be that sweet with L? L was the same person she was using, I felt quite disgusted as to how manipulative she was being. If it was some other person other than L or if I wasn't involved in any of this then maybe I wouldn't have been bothered by her behavior at all. I know I was being hypocritical, but I didn't mind being so. Sometimes in life, you just had to be so. And if someone had a problem with that then, well it clearly was their problem.

I thought about that for a moment. Maybe I was too human, with my faults and all. I always knew my faults and accepted them. Recently, I found out a whole new series of faults. My lack of spiritual powers and my incapability of the abilities my family and people of my species expected from me. I wondered bitterly, if I could even be considered of their species since I was nothing more than a mere human. My grandmother's words from before were ringing in my ears once again. She might pretend now that nothing happened. That she didn't behave so harshly with me. But, none of us could deny the fact that all the things said were so very true. Very word in its truest essence was the truth. All of it needed to be said and I knew that if it was not said with such severity maybe I wouldn't have taken anything this seriously. I wouldn't have wanted to make a move to fight back.

True to his nature, L just had to ruin my moment of peace. As habits go, I was once again chewing my lip. There is nothing particularly wrong with doing that, now is there? But, no the man just had to make my skin crawl and my stomach feel funny with his comments. And no matter how much I promised myself that his comments wouldn't get to me, they got me every single time.

I was snatched down from my thoughts as I heard L's smooth voice lazily drawl out, "Aah…now I am in the mood for something that tastes like raspberries! Mr. Red-hair, do you have any raspberries?"

Gilbert, being the perfect butler that he was looked impassive, but I could see how his lips tightened and his fists clenched. His voice was so monotonous as he stated, "No, sir! I am afraid raspberries are an item that will be unavailable to you. My deepest apologies!"

I had to smirk. The last statement was said in anything but a monotonous tone, I should know. Gilbert always did say that sarcasm was one of the things that had rubbed off on him from me. L was so very lucky that Gilbert did not have anything like a spoon or a fork in his hands at that moment. I noticed Victor being torn between glaring at L and looking smug at what Gilbert had said. Nobody would fail to understand the blatant implication of me being unavailable to L. Okay, so maybe L failed to understand that. He was pouting and was back to finishing his huge piece of strawberry cake. I couldn't help but frown; that was his seventh piece of cake. I did not even want to think how we actually had that much cake in the kitchen.

I loved sweet things, but even that much sugar made me want to gag. Do not even get me started on how many cubes of sugar the man had put in his cup of coffee. Gilbert was shocked and irritated at him as he watched L empty the entire pot of sugar cubes. I asked L, "I presume that eating grotesque amounts of sugar is one of your infamous talents, L?"

L smiled at me goofily with some cream smeared on his lip, "I am so glad that Miss Iris noticed!"

I rolled my eyes at his immaturity. This was the man who was going to make me the greatest detective my grandmother ever had. I shuddered at that thought. No, really I did. But I hadn't time to wondered about things that were about to come, I had some important facts I needed to know from my grandmother. I asked her in a no-nonsense tone, "Grandmamma, tell me what happened to the portraits and the ghosts of the house."

Okay so maybe I didn't ask, more like demanded. She sighed and looked at me and commented, "That tenacity of yours, you get that from your grandfather, you know!"

I didn't take her bait, she was trying to change the topic and make me react. Quite the move! But this time I wasn't budging. I mentally smirked when I heard Victor mutter, "Oh, no! She definitely got that from you!"

My grandmother spared a quick glare at Victor before she explained, "All the spiritual beings of this house, gave up a week's of their spiritual energy for the sake of finding and summoning your spirit guardian, Iris. Your protection to them was more important than being active for a week. They are resting as we speak, but they will be back in a week and resume life as before."

I frowned; I did not like the fact that all my friends had to basically go into a comma for a week for me. I was very grateful to them for the amount of concern and care they had for me. I was surprised, pleasantly so in fact. Because there were many statues and portraits who did not like me. They were down right nasty sometimes, but even they sacrificed themselves for me. I was in a morbid way, very honored.

I asked my grandmother a question that suddenly pooped into my head, "Did they know about my lack of spiritual powers? Did they know that I am different?"

My grandmother's eyes softened and then she explained in a very firm voice, "The spirits in our house are mild-natured ones. Ones who do not posses a lot of power, but enough power to be of use to us. Each of them have different stories, and have different reasons for choosing to stay with us. But when they do choose to stay with us, they give our family their loyalty and protection. They give us their alliance. All of them had rejoiced your birth, child. They have seen you grow up right in front of their eyes, and I can also say this some of them even participated in raising you."

"All of them knew of your special condition. They took it upon themselves to always protect you. That was one of the reasons why some of the spirits followed you everywhere, even to your school when you were young. Most of the spirits love you because you are their young mistress, but there are some who do not deem you worthy only because you lack spiritual awareness. They find you a remarkable person, but that does not change the fact that you are different from all the other Ravenharts. They may have been anything but courteous to you, but never forget that they will always protect you even to the cost of their very existence. They might be rude to you but they will never deny you or exile you."

I was numb after that explanation. That explanation explained a lot that I did not understand or want to understand when I was young. It explained a lot about the portraits and the spirits behaviors. My grandmother added something that was much unexpected, "I reckon there is a whole list of spirits, portraits, statues and ghosts who will want to join your house."

I was confused, "I beg your pardon?"

My grandmother looked at me with a lot of adoration and said, "Your mother never left me, you know. Even when she came to her power, she never left my house. So I suppose, this is the first time I can empathize with a bird."

I asked her incredulously, "A bird?"

She explained, "A bird that is going to watch her little child take flight for the first time and go out into the world and make her own nest."

I suddenly got that cold feeling in my stomach. I could practically smell the crazy move my grandmother was going to throw at me any moment now. I asked her with burning suspicion, "Why am I going to build a nest all of a sudden?"

My grandmother explained, "You see, Iris my dear, you will have a new head quarter, like all my detectives have. I will give you a territory and cases that you will solve as they come you way. You will have a team and most importantly you will learn all that is necessary that you need to become the Head of the Ravenhart family as you were born to be."

She continued after a particularly long sip of her revolting tomato juice, "You will have your own house. One that you will use as you see fit. You may let whomever you want to stay there and work with you. Your team and many others will be responsible for securing your house and protecting you. One of them being L. I, as my position entitles me will provide you with assets and funding for you to carry out your duties."

It took me a few moments to process all of that. I was raised to be independent, and I knew there would be many a time when I would have to carry out certain jobs for my family business whilst being in foreign countries for long periods of time. But this was different. I was to go away to some unknown destination and work with unknown people and the work itself was unknown and bizarre to me. I could feel L's eyes on me. He was always watching me. I took a small look at L; he gave me a look that I couldn't exactly describe. It was intense, but the emotion behind those grey eyes of his was something I couldn't figure out. He was going to be there beside me, and by now I knew he was someone I could rely on, even though he was a barmy pervert. I turned to my grandmother with renewed determination and gave her a firm nod. I was accepting the position she was deeming me with. I would start my own house.

My grandmother looked very smug when she saw my face. She informed me, "We still haven't decided as to which people we shall pick to form your team, but I do know of a few people who will most definitely join your house. There are some others on the list whom I have to ask, but there are a number of members who I already know will join your house."

I asked as I started making a mental note, "And who exactly are they?"

"Sir Rayne. That portrait is hopelessly devoted to you. That is a good thing, I suppose. He just happens to be one of the strongest portraits in this house. I always said that he would be stronger if only he had the right motivation. Now, he has you."

I couldn't help but smile brightly at that name. I was ecstatic by having my oldest friend with me.

"That cat painting, Callum. The twin fairies, Daisy and Lacey. The goblin with the huge axe, Gimmly. The elf prince, Elrond the Fifth."

I smiled contently, all of them were very good friends of mine. She continued the list.

"Amongst statues, the dogs in the garden, Thor and Loki will tear the house apart if they do not get to go with you. The cherubs and the dwarves in the back garden will follow you. They always found you endearing as a child. The knight armors in the hallway to your room should go with you since they like guarding your room specifically. The statue of the Jarvis the owl in the library always did like you. He once told me that you were his favorite amongst all the Ravenharts he had met. That fountain of nymphs will go with you."

This was strange, the nymphs were absolutely horrible. Why would they want to go with me? They were far too provocative. Well, they had to be considering the fact that they were nude all the time. It was kind of funny how they tried to flirt and seduce Gilbert whenever he was in the garden to fetch me. Oh and they hated me for being the reason who took Gilbert back inside the house. They hated Victor though, always shrieked and screamed when he was around. Sometimes they would even hide underwater when he was too close. My grandmother continued.

"Amongst the ghosts and spirits, there is the Hooded-Archer who always keeps an eye on you. Kalis, Talis and Walis always seem eager to follow you to the ends of the world. How you manage to befriend those fiendish children are beyond me. They prank everyone but you and Gilbert. Thia the Siren would follow you for reasons she will tell you in private. There will be more ghosts and spirits to add to that list but I need to have a talk with them first."

The Hooded-Archer was someone very familiar to me. Interesting fact, for someone unfeeling and seemingly cold, he was extremely protective and caring of me. No one knows, but he was the one who stood behind me when I was learning how to use guns. He took pride in my aim. Kalis, Talis and Walis were notoriously famous in our house for being the worst of pranksters. They never spared anyone. They were extremely close to each other and looked exactly alike; not entirely unusual, after all they were triplets. They only liked me because I could always tell them apart. They did not necessarily like Gilbert, they were scared of him. Now Thia the Siren was someone who surprised me. She was extremely beautiful; she was a siren after all. But, what freaked me out about her was that she was always in the shadows watching me. It was very creepy. I guess, I would find out soon enough why she would be loyal to me and what exactly her problem was since grandmother told me she would talk to me in private.

I sighed tiredly, this morning was too much. I really needed a break but that cold feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that today's rather anticlimactic events were far from over. Victor always did tell me that cold feeling in my stomach was my gut instinct and I should always listen to it. But then what did the funny feeling I felt in my stomach around L mean? Maybe it had something to do with L being my guardian spirit. I didn't know but I did know that it was a thought I would think about later at some other time.

My grandmother surprised me by sternly calling out, "Iris, there is something very important that I need to tell you."

That was it, that feeling in my stomach was right. Her voice reminded me of her from earlier today. I prepared myself for the next blow she was going to land on me. She sternly told me, "Not all of us can join your house or your team. We cannot help you either. But, Gilbert will be joining you."

I was stunned. I was hit with a sudden dose of happiness. I wouldn't be alone; Gilbert would be there with me. But why did my grandmother look at me as if she was giving me a death sentence? She noticed my look and explained, "Gilbert will be there to care for you as he has cared for you in this home. He will also teach you all there is to be taught about this world. He will also protect you and be a permanent guard for your house. You may include him in your team if you choose to; I know he has a lot of abilities that you can take advantage of."

I asked without missing a beat, "There is a 'but' somewhere in there, isn't it?"

My grandmother smiled a sad smile as she told me, "Yes, there is, my child! Gilbert chose to be at your side as he is not bound by any promise to me specifically. By joining your house, he will be dismissed permanently from this house. If you become the head of the Ravenhart family, he will come back here with you. But, if you fail to prove yourself and get this position, Gilbert will no longer be welcomed back into this house."

I gasped and furiously looked at Gilbert for conformation. He looked straight back at me with those green eyes of his burning intensely. I snapped at him, "Gilbert, you will stay here. I do not want you with me."

Gilbert stated in his monotonous voice, "Then Little Miss, I shall resign from this house, regardless and I will stay near your house. I would rather be near you wherever you are, than be anywhere else without you."

I was about to protest heavily; I could feel tears prickling my eyes but I held them back. I had to win this argument with him. My grandmother on the other hand, interrupted me, "Before you say anything you might regret later, there is something you should know about Gilbert."

I was annoyed but if this was going to make me change my mind then it was something big. So I nodded shakily. She started telling me things about my oldest and dearest friend, things that I never in my wildest dreams thought was possible.

"You see, my dear, Gilbert is a very special man. He is over four decades old. And even though most of the people in the supernatural world do not mind the union of different species these days, it is still not accepted."

The more than four decades old thing threw me off completely. That was unbelievable. Gilbert looked so very young. He looked like he was in his early twenties and told me he was in his early thirties. The part about him being the off-spring of two species somehow was not that surprising in the beginning.

"Gilbert was born from the union of an elf and a succubus."

That was the surprising part. Elves existed. I suddenly had the image of the extremely handsome Elrond the Fifth. He was the only elf I knew of, and according to him he was a prince of the elves. He had long beautiful white-blonde hair with pale luminescent skin and sharp facial features. Beautiful blue eyes too. He was so beautiful that he seemed almost feminine. I was suddenly hit with that similarity between Gilbert and Elrond the Fifth. Gilbert did have elfish features. And a succubus, now that was unnerving.

"Elves are notorious for their intelligence, speed, reflexes, magic, weaponry, elegance and their love for everything pure. Succubae are famous for their deceit, strength, seduction and love for everything dark. Elves do not mate with other species, but there have been many exceptions on the fact of the subject's powers, intellect, intentions and purity. A succubus is anything but that. A succubus to start with is a demon and Gilbert's mother failed to impress any of the elves who were family to Gilbert's father. Now, usually a succubus gives birth to an incubus if it's a male. But in our Gilbert's case, he was not born an incubus. He has a few abilities of an incubus though with most of his abilities are taken from his elfish heritage. He got his red hair and green eyes from his mother. That itself was considered a sign of his impurity if not the blood that flows through his veins. To add more salt to the injury, Gilbert and his parents were exiled from both the communities. He was considered neither an elf nor a demon. But, his parents loved him and had come to the Ravenharts for help. We accepted them and they became our greatest agents. Gilbert's parents were killed on a mission by demons because of their union. Gilbert here, started training with your mother around that time. He became the best at almost everything. He is one of my strongest strategists, weapons master, assassin, spy, task master and mage."

My mind was on over-ride. My Gilbert was all of that? And he had that terrible of a past? I took a quick look at him; I had expected him to look upset because my grandmother was making him live his terrible past, but he looked determined and proud. He was staring right at me; I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. He did not want my pity and he damn well didn't deserve it. Gilbert was strong and fierce. He survived all of that and he stood before me like a winner. Hell, he raised me to be like him. I was proud of him and I didn't give a damn about who wanted him or accepted him. He was my family and I loved him like he was family. He was wanted in my family. And if anybody dared to mess with him on my watch, they sure as hell would not escape unscathed.

As soon as my temper and shock shimmered down a little, I thought about Gilbert some more. Suddenly, a lot of things were making sense. How he taught me the way of swords and how deadly his aims were and how utensils in his hands were worse than weapons. His stealth and speed was making so much more sense now. And what made the most sense was how women and sometimes men started following him around and flirting with him whenever he was out with me. I started giggling.

My grandmother looked amused, Victor and L both looked confused and Gilbert looked concerned. I think he thought I was going to reject him or something, I looked straight at him and said, "This certainly explains why you are so irresistible to the poor people around you, Gilbert."

Gilbert immediately scowled, "Little Miss, that is no laughing matter! I have no control whatsoever on that particular part of my heritage since I did not inherit the full ability."

I tried hard to stop my infernal giggling, Gilbert was looking almost as red as his face. But I couldn't stop the onslaught of previous memories coming onto me. All of them were of Gilbert being extremely uncomfortable, or trying to run for his dear life from women who were throwing themselves at him. It was even funnier when men hit on him. It didn't help at all when Victor started chuckling too, I assumed that he too was remembering all those times when Gilbert was being hounded by his admirers.

But the most surprising thing was who came to Gilbert's rescue this time. It was L. He drawled out, "Aah…Mr. Gilbert. You have a very useful ability. If only L had an ability like that, then L would have gotten himself a pretty girlfriend like Miss Iris."

That most certainly shut up both Victor and me. I sputtered, he had called me pretty. I was so used to men trying to charm me to get something out of me since I was Iris Ravenhart, and they never got to me. But his compliment was causing me to blush, and I never blushed. I tried so hard to stop. I snapped back accordingly at L, "I thank the gods above, L. For not giving you that particular ability."

The guy just never gave up, he leered at me and gave me a suggestive smile and said, "Now, no need to be jealous, Miss Iris. I won't be getting a girlfriend."

I snarled out with rage and shock at his preposterous statement, "Jealous? And me? This only proves that you, L are positively insane and delusional. Quit saying things which imply things."

He didn't even look bothered by my outburst. That only fueled my anger and irritation. He looked so calm as he asked, "Imply things like what, Miss Iris?"

I retorted without missing a beat, "Things which are perverted, offensive and suggestive."

L looked at me in a bafflingly adorable way, and stated gravely, "It was never L's intent to be so, Miss Iris. L only says what he feels, Miss Iris."

I was confused for a few moments, and then I figured it out. The man had turned the entire situation on me. He made me snap at him and accuse him and then he put himself in the victim's position. The man was very sharp. Suddenly, it was his feelings I was hurting and he was only speaking his mind. You could never blame one for being honest. Especially when he was not causing any harm. Well, not any more than making me uncomfortable.

I told him gently, "Don't blame yourself for not having any tact, L. Not all people have the ability to know when to speak and what to say, especially how to behave with a girl."

I noticed something very interesting about L as he caught onto my game. His eyes gleamed when he was studying me. He liked that I challenged him. Either that or he really did like mind-games a lot. My comments were bothering him too, since every statement was pointing out a flaw in him. His lips pouted to the point he looked like a petulant child and he was frowning. I had to fight so hard against myself to stop from cackling madly at his expression.

I continued in that same patronizing tone, "It's okay for not having any experience with the opposite sex, L. It is perfectly acceptable for you to act like a complete loon every time you see a pretty girl. It is also fine for you to be jealous of Gilbert for his luck and charms with women. Hopefully, with time you will get better, L."

I smiled my most sickly-sweet smile at him. I could hear Victor chuckling lightly and I mentally applauded myself for doing a job well done. Because L looked positively in a black mood. How hard it was to not laugh like a mad witch at his expression. Finally, I got to make him feel as uncomfortable as he made me feel.

His outburst was funny and expected. In fact, I was goading him on to make him snap. He almost yelled out, "I don't need to get better. I am fine the way I am. All I need to be is with you. I don't need to learn how to be with other females. I have you."

I don't think even he noticed what exactly he implied by that sentence and I knew that all he meant was that all he needed to worry about was being my guardian spirit. After all, that was his specific task. He was just annoyed by what I said and that was that. I didn't need to react or retort anything back to him, because what he said was not important. If anything, he should be embarrassed by what he said. At least that's what I told myself. I didn't understand that funny thing I felt in my stomach again. I scratched my cheek awkwardly and looked down at my plate. Just to have the final word though, I stated smugly, "Well then, I finally got you to stop referring to yourself in third person."

I turned to my grandmother saw her smile. I did not like her smile; it was an impish smile and rightfully informed me that whatever it was that she was thinking about was no good. So I immediately stopped her by informing her, "So, I will have Gilbert coming with me. Who else do I get?"

I was secretly chanting for Victor. I hoped that I got him and now that I thought about it, I wanted to know about Victor's supernatural background and his abilities too. My grandmother looked serious once again and told me, "It is only Gilbert that you will get from this house, Iris. The other members of your team will not be from my house. They will be recruited by Gilbert, Victor, L, you and I later this week."

I frowned for a second, there was something she was omitting and I just couldn't put my finger on it. But I got this strange feeling that I was missing out on something very important. I looked at L for a second and I noticed him staring back at me with a straight face. He broke away his gaze from me and was to my surprise gazing steadily staring at Victor. Victor looked extremely tensed and I to my utter amazement saw that the fork he was holding, he bent it in half. I didn't what exactly was going on with him, so I timidly called out to him, "Victor?"

He let out a loud sigh. That sigh sounded so tired. He told me in the saddest voice I had ever heard from him, "Kitten, I am not going with you!"

I gasped with shock. What did he mean by not going with me? It was okay if he didn't, he could always visit me or I could visit him. I thought that maybe he was upset by the fact that Gilbert would be permanently living with me and not him. I thought that he was upset over the fact that I would feel betrayed for him not coming with me. There were so many times in my past when I had seen him act almost possessively of him when it came to Gilbert. They would always fight over what should be taught to me or how it should be taught. Or of how much time I was spending with Gilbert and how I liked him more than him. Victor just did not like to share me with Gilbert. I was his cub. Or Kitten like how he sometimes affectionately referred to me as.

So it was natural for me to want to tell him otherwise like I always did. I smiled softly and told him, "Don't fret about that, Victor. You have a lot to do here and besides, if I ever do need you, I'll call you or better yet come over here to visit you. If it makes you feel better we can even arrange a bi-weekly lunch thing or you can come over for the weekends."

It was maybe a couple of minutes when everybody was silent. Almost eerily silent as Victor stared at me with sad eyes. I didn't know what the big deal was; I hadn't ever seen Victor look so sad. Finally, Victor spoke in a voice that scared me. His voice sounded so dead and I couldn't utter a single word as he told me, "Iris, none of that will happen. You see, the moment you step out of this house and separate yourself from this house, I will no longer be able to talk or even meet you for that matter. You will be treated as one of the many detectives that the Ravenhart family has and I will hold no alliance with you."

I think my mind completely shut off with what he had said. I really didn't know what was going on and my eyes were stinging with tears that wanted to roll down my cheeks. But I was stubbornly held them back. I did not want to break down again. I did before and it turned out that I could have handled the situation with more tact. In the end it was L who had to sort everything out, while I did nothing but cry. I wanted to see what was going on and then just play accordingly. I knew there must be a reason for Victor saying what he was saying like them having a reason for their behavior this morning.

I came to a realization. Nothing was what it seemed and I had to look hard to spot what was underneath the underneath. I couldn't react how certain situation or people wanted me to react, I had to be impassive and look for what was behind everything and that act accordingly. I bit my lip hard and decided that I would need to become more like L or Gilbert, they were the only people who weren't letting their emotions get the best of them and they acted cool-headedly.

So I looked at Victor with dry eyes and asked him in my best professional voice, "Is this because this house has to remain unbiased when it comes to me or is there another hidden reason behind all of this?"

Victor didn't answer me. In fact, he had suddenly taken to staring at his empty plate as if it held all the answers to all the mysteries in the world. It was my grandmother again who answered me, "Victor cannot have any alliance with you because that is exactly what his job entitles him to do. He is bound to whoever is the Head of the Ravenhart family permanently. In this case, that would be me. He also happens to be the Grimm of this house."

Before I could even open my mouth to ask what a Grimm was, L beat me to the punch. He looked extremely curious as he asked, "And what is a Grimm, the grandmother of my Miss Iris?"

The only thing that stopped me from snarling at L for calling me his Miss Iris was that burning curiosity to know what a Grimm was. My grandmother answered in a lazy tone, "A Grimm is a person a house or a family keeps who is extremely strong. He or she has to be ruthless and cold. They have to emotionless when it comes to the orders given to them by their masters. While the masters may have many people protecting them, it is the Grimm who fights for them. In short, the Grimm is the person who can kill anyone at their master's orders without even the slightest remorse or hesitation. Victor is my Grimm and he is also the killer of this house."

I must have looked shocked or looked terribly pale at that speech, because the nest thing I knew Gilbert was at my side with his warm hand holding one of my shoulders. My voice was so hoarse when I stammered, "Bu-but, I-I thought Gilbert was an assassin?"

Gilbert's hand tightened on my shoulder. But I knew that he knew what I meant. I meant that how was Gilbert all that different from Victor, she was making Victor sound so very horrible. She was making him sound like some sort of blood-thirsty monster.

My grandmother smiled a cold smile as she answered, "Gilbert is at the freedom to refuse to kill someone when I order him to. Gilbert can just injure someone fatally if I tell him to make sure that a certain someone has to be taken care of. Gilbert is allowed to feel guilty or hate for himself. Victor is not allowed any of those luxuries."

I gasped at how cold and horrifying those words sounded. But she did not even give me a second to respond, she explained in a very condescending tone, "There are many dangerous beings out there, Iris. Ones that need to be killed or they will kill and hurt plenty of people. When certain supernaturals get out of hand and start harming others or when certain supernaturals form organizations or gangs to carry out dangerous illegal activities, they need to be stopped. Permanently."

"There is also that matter of certain beings coming up to me to defeat me or defy me, and it is then Victor's job to eliminate them. He eliminates all the threats for me. And since Victor is very strong, all the other houses and families with their Grimms almost never come to attack me."

Even though all that my grandmother had said made sense, and I accepted all of it, my heart was still clenching almost painfully at what I had suddenly discovered about Victor. It was again L who had come to my rescue, he asked in a tone that matched my grandmother's voice in severity, "Give us an example of one of Victor's missions, Mrs. Ravenhart!"

Okay, so he didn't ask, it was more of an order. I expected my grandmother to look insulted, but I swear I saw the corners of her lips twitch for a second into a smile. She answered back in a bored tone, "There was an assignment two weeks ago, I think. Victor had to go and eliminate a whole nest of vampires in Essex. They had a coven leader who was a little difficult. They were kidnapping young girls and boys and milking them for their blood and selling them to other vampires and creatures. They were also abusing them sexually and physically. I told Victor to burn the whole nest down after he killed every last one of them."

L asked in a very matter-of-fact voice, "What happed to the human victims?"

My grandmother's response was quick, "Some asked to have their memories of that incident to be removed and they moved on with their lives. Others chose to remember it all but had to sign a contract to never reveal a word of any of it ever. They work at places we provided them with and we also compensated all of them as well as taking care of their medical expenses."

I nodded firmly and decided that it was all okay. Victor was bound to my grandmother to follow all her orders, he had to do it. But my grandmother gave him tasks which all had proper reasoning behind them. Those vampires did need to be killed. I was sure that if I checked out the files on that assignment I would be tempted to kill them too. But, there was another question that was bothering me. How could my grandmother just send Victor to do something as dangerous as that? How could he send him to vampires?

I asked her in a firm voice, "How many vampires were there?"

My grandmother smirked at me and replied, "Twenty-seven, counting the coven leader."

I imagined Victor walking alone into a big dark building filled with strong, blood-thirsty vampires with sharps fangs glistening with blood, I shuddered and I looked up at Victor with panic and worry for him. I whispered out unintentionally, "How did you…"

My grandmother laughed a dry laugh and told me, "Oh, didn't I tell you? Our Victor happens to be the bastard child of a very powerful demon king. He's considered one of the strongest demons alive!"


	7. Little Miss, Plans and Names

Hey readers! Well, this is the next chapter and here is where I go a bit into L's past. And of course there is a lot of Gilbert in it. I hope you all enjoy reading this and please review. I really would appreciate a bit of feedback from you guys. I need to know what you all think about this and it would encourage me and motivate me to write a lot more. So please do review. Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death note...**

**My Protector**

My grandmother's sudden and quite shocking proclamation of Victor being an illegitimate child and on top of that one of the strongest demons alive was something that left me feeling, well, buzzed. I didn't know how to react, I wanted to behave in someway that would show Victor that it didn't matter to me who he was or what he was. He was just my Uncle Vic and I was his little Iris, his kitten. Like always. I so desperately wanted to show Victor that he was important to me and that he would always be even if we were going to be separated for a long, long time.

I wanted to tell him that but I couldn't. Firstly, because he was stubbornly not looking at me or talking to me and just when I was gathering up enough guts to talk to him, he walked away. Actually, he stormed away. There was another reason I couldn't talk to Victor. You see, no matter how much I said that it didn't bother me that he would not have any contact with me; that was anything but true. It bothered me a lot. In fact, it made me feel like someone had kicked me in the stomach with a steel-toed boot. How could Victor, my Victor stay away from me? I knew he wasn't betraying me or abandoning me, but it still hurt.

His avoidance of me was hurting me even worse, because I had so little time left with him. About a week, how could he not want to spend what little time we had, together? Was this the same man who fought with Gilbert because Gilbert was hogging all my time? Was he the same man who would sneak me out of the house at the oddest of hours for ice-creams or movies?

I shook my head to clear out these horrible thoughts. Completely disgusted at myself for how weak, selfish and whiny I was being. I wanted to slap myself silly for being this self-centered; I reminded myself that there was a bigger issue at hand than my insignificant insecurities. I told myself with a sudden burst of hope that everything would fall into place and be alright like it was supposed to be after the issue was dealt with. The only matter I should be concerned with was how to earn the right to be my family's heir and defeat these Krakens. I didn't have the time to waste by being all weepy about how I didn't have what I wanted.

I snarled at myself hatefully that if I didn't try my best then there wouldn't be anything left for me to want. No grandmother, no Gilbert, no Victor and no Ravenhart family. I couldn't just cry over how Victor wouldn't spend time with me, I had to worry more over how I didn't have any magic powers or spiritual energy. Hell, I didn't even have bloodlines like Victor or Gilbert.

I was contemplating all of this for quite sometime after Victor left. I didn't notice, but my grandmother left a while too. The only people who were left were Gilbert, L and I in the garden. Finally when I looked up, I noticed L eating what looked like a huge sundae. I blinked stupidly at the sight a few times.

When had Gilbert gotten him that? And how had I not noticed that monster of a sundae? It had scoops and scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice-cream. It was like a mountain, there were practically rivers of chocolate syrup on it with tons of choco-chips and fluffy looking whipped cream. And L looked so very adorable as he almost religiously finished that mountain of a tooth cavity. I'd be lying though, if I said that I wasn't a little bit tempted to try a spoon or ten of that mountain of cold sweet creamy goodness.

I asked him in a voice that was extremely curious, "L, how can you eat so much sugar when we are in such a tense situation?"

He looked at me and blinked like an owl and answered back, "With my mouth, Miss Iris. That is how I eat."

I couldn't even react at his answer. He sometimes had that effect on me to my utter infuriation. In the end, I did not react to his statement at all. I only watched him eat his sundae and quietly kept my mind busy with thoughts about my impending future as a detective for the Ravenhart family. There was a thought that was bugging me for sometime.

My voice was quiet dazed, I noticed, "Hey, Gilbert?"

His voice was soft and adoring, like how it always was whenever I called him and needed him at my side, "Yes, Little Miss?"

I told him, my tone implicating the seriousness, "There is a lot for me to learn about my family and this supernatural world and all the creatures. If I need to become the proper heir that my family needs me to be, I need to learn exactly what an heir needs to be. I need to learn so many things, Gilbert."

His voice was once again soft, but it was filled with acceptance, "Indeed, Little Miss."

I was quiet for a few moments. I was very nervous to ask for his help. I feared that he would reject me, because this time I did not know exactly to what extents he could help me. Things weren't like before when I just expected him to be always there helping me. I was scared that he would tell me that I had to fend for myself. But, if I did not ask him, my Gilbert, then I would be casting him aside. Casting him aside from my life and my worries, discarding him as a friend when he chose to stay with me at the cost of being exiled from the house that has been his only home. I couldn't do that to him. Never.

Tears almost came to my eyes when I understood exactly how much Gilbert loved me, and how much it was binding for Victor to not being able to decide whom he could choose. For Gilbert, it was easy in a way. Gilbert would always be there in my times of troubles and happiness; he wouldn't need to worry about how I was, but Victor couldn't have any of that. Victor was a Grimm, a puppet.

Gilbert and Victor were two of the most important men in my life. My father figures, my brother figures, my uncles, my friends and my mentors. But now, I had to leave one of them behind. I smiled bitterly as I realized how much it would hurt and how difficult it would be for me to say goodbye. I hoped that even though Victor was avoiding me, he would at least grant me the chance to tell him goodbye before I left.

I couldn't let go of Gilbert no matter what. I would never let him go out of my life. Especially seeing how easily Victor was separated from my life. I would cling on to Gilbert no matter what. And that was when it hit me I did not need to fear that Gilbert would be separated from me. That he would feel rejected or that he would reject me. He chose to go with me and that had proved his utter devotion to me. I was important to him.

I finally asked Gilbert, like the many times I asked for his help for homework, "Gilbert, will you teach me all that I need to know to become the heir of the Ravenhart family?"

And Gilbert's answer was the same as it always was when I asked for help, "It would be my pleasure, Little Miss."

I smiled in relief. There really was a lot I had to start working on and I didn't even know what to begin with. I took a look at L, who had finished that huge sundae. How did he finish it that quickly? I shook my head a little to get rid of that thought and told him, "L, you are going to need to learn about these things from Gilbert too."

He looked at me and drawled out lazily, "L will always be with Miss Iris, so when Miss Iris has her lessons, L will be learning too. L will know everything that Miss Iris knows and more."

I resisted the urge to hit L with my napkin. The bastard was back to referring to himself in third person and he was being an arrogant sod. But his arrogance wasn't that unbearable. It was tolerable. I could live with him, work with him and be good friends with him even. He was odd, but so far he seemed honest with me. Even if most of the time he was being an absolute pervert.

I didn't notice exactly how long I was staring at him, that is until he opened his mouth and disrupted my line of thoughts once again. He murmured in a somewhat husky voice, "Chocolate truffles."

That made the said chocolate truffles glare at him with enough heat to burn a whole right through him. Why in Athena's name does my eyes remind him of chocolate truffles, I'll never know. Gilbert, the ever perfect butler immediately asked, "Sir, would you like some chocolate truffles?"

My throat almost burned as I imagined L having more sugar than what he had a few minutes ago. I cringed and corrected Gilbert before L could open his mouth to give a reply to Gilbert, "No, Gilbert. L doesn't want any chocolate truffles. Apparently, my eyes remind him of chocolate truffles."

L nodded earnestly at that. I would say he looked cute nodding like that, if it wasn't me who was being embarrassed by his weird comments. I felt Gilbert stiffening behind me. I cackled madly inside, Gilbert's protective side was kicking in right now.

Gilbert replied icily, "My deepest apologies once again, sir. The eyeballs or any other part of Little Miss is strictly off the menu."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. One of these days, Gilbert will really give in his urge to just use L as a target practice. And after finding out that my Gilbert was really an assassin, I was confirmed that Gilbert really could do the things I thought he could do, like killing someone right out of pure spite. Gilbert was really trying to not attack L in any way, I knew that. Hell, I could tell by just looking at Gilbert. That man was holding himself back so much and only because L was my spirit guardian, but L was not helping Gilbert at all. The jerk actually drawled out in a patronizingly lazy voice, "Oh silly Mr. Red-hair man, L doesn't want to literally eat Miss Iris!"

Oh god, he actually eyeing me in that lewd way as he said that. I shuddered with repulsion. I snapped at him, "Quit making up names for Gilbert. He has a name, use it, L!"

I was surprised by the sharp look he gave me. He hadn't once looked at me with such severity. It unnerved me and in a way was hurting me. I was a little scared of the heat that cold look of his possessed. Contradictory words, I know. But that was the only way I could describe that look of his. It was like cold fire. It was almost reflexive for me to want to break my eyes away from his gaze, but I did not want to give up. There must have been a reason to get such a reaction from him. I wanted to find that reaction.

I didn't blink and neither did he. My eyes, I knew softened and was searching his eyes for a change or a slip or anything that would tell me what he was thinking. But his eyes, never lost their intensity, he continued to glare at me. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he said, "Sometimes names are what one needs to completely eliminate one's targets. Names hold great powers, something that you have yet to learn about, Iris Ravenhart. Do not use that power so dismissively. You haven't the faintest idea as to what trouble you might invite your way."

His voice was so cold, so robotic. I could almost hear my blood pounding against my ears as I stared back at him. His eyes looked hollow and his expression was haunted. At that one moment, he looked so old, almost battle worn. He looked tired and it had nothing to do with those dark circles underneath his eyes.

For the first time, he called me by name. Not that annoying pet name he had come up for me. Not Miss Iris. He was calling me by my given name. It didn't sound right coming from him. There was a slight sting of rejection that I felt when he called me Iris Ravenhart. I figured that he used my name because he was being very serious about what he was saying. I remembered the time he called out my grandmother's full name in her study. I forced myself to drop this rather illogical train of thoughts. Why should he using my full name bother me? It was after all my name, I was over-reacting.

But what did he mean, by names holding powers? And what was that about me using names so dismissively? Names could eliminate someone? Inviting trouble? What did I not know and what was I missing in this bizarre situation?

I looked confused and my curiosity was buzzing my mind. I needed to figure this out and I needed answers from him. I looked at him, and my tongue felt heavy. I couldn't just blurt out my questions and something told me that even if I asked him, he wouldn't reveal anything. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking far away towards the rose bushes. I knew he definitely wasn't admiring the roses. He was remembering and thinking things over. Things related to his past.

If I asked him something, he would either be vague or not answer at all. There was also that chance that he would lie to me; I did not want him to lie to me. He hadn't lied to me so far and I did not want him to spoil that record. He really did not know me for that long, why should I expect him to reveal his secrets to me so soon. He was already doing so much for me; it would have been rather cruel of me to push him for more. For answers that clearly were causing a storm within him. When the time was right and when he would consider me a friend and would want to tell me things, he would. I would give him time. It was the least I could do for him.

Before I could start thinking about how to break the ice between us, L did it for me. The man really was mysterious. He looked straight at me and asked me in a serious voice, "Miss Iris and Mr. Gilbert, might I suggest an idea?"

I couldn't just stop that smile from blooming on my lips. I noticed of course as soon as I saw L smile back at me, so I wiped it away immediately. I did not need to give L more reasons to force his eccentricities on me. Yes, I have labeled his perverse ways as eccentricities. Well, I had to, how else was I supposed to look at him as a friend and work alongside with him?

There was this warmth I felt in my tummy as I noticed him using his name for me again. I pushed that thought away; I was just happy that he had dropped that angry attitude he had before and was not being cold with me. And I was also happy that he was finally calling Gilbert by his name, it only meant that he had finally acknowledged Gilbert as a companion in this situation we had. And it was really for the best for everyone that he had done so; after all, all of us were stuck in this for a long time.

It was Gilbert who answered, his voice surprised me though. It was the voice Gilbert used on me, the soft voice which encouraged me when I talked with him in the kitchen. Gilbert not being cold with L was good for us too. Suddenly, I felt entirely too happy with my situation. My situation didn't feel all that miserable anymore.

"Please feel free to share your idea, sir."

L looked thoughtfully at me and said, "The Krakens will do whatever it takes to either attack Miss Iris or make sure she fails as a detective miserably. But that will only happen once they find out where Miss Iris would be and if they find out which territory she has and of her assignments."

I could see the logic. It was absolutely correct. In fact, if I was a Kraken, I would do what L said. My mind went in to overdrive. How was I supposed to hide myself then? I needed to find out more about my new job and all my options. I needed to make out a full proof plan.

Gilbert broke me away from my thinking once again. His voice was surprisingly sharp and very commanding. I could see why my grandmother said Gilbert was good at strategizing, "There is more to the situation, sir. There are more elements who would want to harm or hinder Little Miss."

I was curious and a bit confused as I blurted out, "Who, Gilbert?"

Gilbert replied in that same voice, "As you know, Mistress Ravenhart will announce her desire to find the next Head of the family publically. This will mean that you, Little Miss will be competing with the other detectives and investigators. They will want to win just as much if not more than you."

I nodded as I processed that thought. It was true. Being a Ravenhart by blood gave me an advantage over the other detectives in this competition, well at least in their eyes. They did not know about my lack of powers. It would be disastrous if they found out about that little tidbit. But as long as they did not know, I was a big competition to them. And it would be only natural for them to want to eliminate the competition.

At the same time, the Krakens would target me too. Hiding was not an option since I had to work. And my tasks would need to be made public in the supernatural world, since I had to show my achievements to the Council and take that position as head of the Ravenhart family. Suddenly, it hit me. I had to show my achievements as an individual and not use the Ravenhart name in the first place. In essence, I had to prove my worth and earn the Ravenhart name. That was the plan. So why not do exactly that?

I looked at L wanting to share my idea with him and that was when I suddenly saw something in his eyes. He was watching me. His eyes held a secret and a bit of amusement too. It was a strange look. Those lips of his quirked up in a strange small smile. I watched as he brought his thumb back to his mouth and started nibbling on it and with that familiar gesture of his, I came to a realization.

He was watching me because he knew exactly what I was thinking. The idea I intended to share with him was the same idea he had come up with before I did. The one Gilbert told him to share freely with us. The bastard was clearly smirking at me because he knew he was way ahead of me.

I knew it was childish of me to even consider the notion that this was a competition and that he was winning because he came up with a plan before I did and even forced me to come up with the same plan as him. I knew it was particularly immature of me to feel stung that I had to admit that he won because I too came up with the exact same plan and say the plan out loud. But, I was competitive and he won and he was smirking at me and enjoying this, so if that made me childish and immature, then so be it.

He looked positively gleeful as he watched me scowl at him. It would be a greater win for him if I presented the idea as mine, so I took my defeat gracefully and said in my best monotonous voice, "Now, I know what idea you were talking about, L."

The smug bastard only lifted an eyebrow at my admission. He was going to make me say it. There was no way in hell I would let him beat me, if he thought I was going to throw in the towel, he thought wrong. It took a lot more than a few petty mind games to make me bow down. So, I continued, "Gilbert, people knowing that Morganna Ravenhart's real grand-daughter was becoming a detective is inevitable. But what if no one knew that I am that grand-daughter; that I am Iris Ravenhart?"

Gilbert sounded very interested, "That sounds quiet promising, Little Miss."

I nodded my agreement and then told him, "I will have a new identity and so will everyone on my team and in my house, Gilbert."

Gilbert said in that familiar accepting way, "It will all be arranged, Little Miss."

I was looking at L as I worked through the plan verbally, "There are very few people who had seen me as a child and those who had seen me in the office with my Grandmamma and Victor, well they won't recognize me anymore. I will change my look very soon. That also brings me to a problem Gilbert. You have been a permanent fixture with me since I was a child and many know of you as the butler of the Ravenhart house, what shall we do about that?"

It was L who said logically and with a slight hint of exasperation, "He will, of course, change his appearance and his name."

I was just about to agree with L when Gilbert interrupted. And his answer surprised me, quite a bit. His voice suddenly took on a different form. That soft and smooth voice suddenly sounded so silky and oozed confidence. It sounded deeper too, I actually turned around to look at Gilbert to make sure it was him as he talked, "There is no need for that, sir. I already have another identity that I will be taking on."

That made be very curious, so I told him just that, "I am curious, Gilbert."

He smirked at me and winked and replied, "As you should be, Little Miss."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. I was curious but also satisfied with the fact that Gilbert would be safe with his identity and had utter faith in his work. After all, my Gilbert wasn't only a perfectionist butler in my eyes anymore. He was also a professional assassin. He knew exactly what he was doing. I could wait for him to show me his new identity.

I turned to look back at L. He was pouting, with his arms folded over his chest. I almost giggled again, he was sulking. He probably thought he was ahead of Gilbert too. He wanted to be in control of Gilbert's actions too. I cackled like a witch in my mind as I added one more reason to the long list of reasons as to why I loved Gilbert. Gilbert could one-up L whenever he wanted to. My Gilbert was the best.

L stated in a petulant tone, "I do not require an identity either. I will be L."

I was amused by his rather childish response. I told him with a smirk, "Your identity is not important at all, L."

He looked at me with large puppy-dog eyes. As if that would work on me, I invented that look. One of those looks from me could make Victor and Gilbert go paranoid with worry and concern. Gilbert added to my statement, "Sir, your identity will not cause Little Miss any harm or relate her to the Ravenhart family. You are a summoned spirit and you were dead before that. Therefore, you have a clean slate. We need not bother with your identity."

I loved how Gilbert mixed just a hint of a patronizing tone in that dreadfully monotonous voice of his. L looked thoughtful once again, as he started nibbling his thumb again. That was strange, I had expected him to be annoyed at Gilbert and throw a childish gesture or a comment, but something that Gilbert said was making him think.

It was after a few moments that L finally said something that made both Gilbert and I worry. He asked softly, "What if it was my past that might cause Miss Iris harm?"

I didn't even start processing that thought that Gilbert reacted, his voice was sharp and cracked like a whip and don't even get me started on the coldness of that tone, "What about your past should cause her harm, L?"

L was not even fazed by Gilbert's tone or reaction. Even I was surprised by how Gilbert dropped the sir and called by his name. L looked straight at Gilbert and told him, "That is what I need to check. If my past would cause her harm. I need to check if I am required to stay dead."

Was there something from L's past that was dangerous? Was he killed or were there people after him? What was it that would cause me harm? I heard Gilbert use the same tone as he told L, "You have loose ends, L. We can check and take care of those loose ends. But I need to know exactly what you are talking about before I get you involved in anything further."

L's voice sounded so haunted and he looked so old all of a sudden as he told Gilbert in a steady voice, "First I only need information on one person. I need to know the current information on that person. Everything that I will do after will depend on that single information."

Gilbert's response was short and clipped, "Name and location of the person?"

L was quiet for some time. His face looked so detached. His expression never looked more impassive, but his eyes gave him away to me. His voice sounded just as cold as Gilbert's as he replied, "Yagami Light. Japan."

Fear and a sudden nervousness suddenly gripped my heart. That name sounded so unique. Light Yagami. Japanese name and the location was Japan too. This person, he had a strong connection to L. Japanese names had the surnames before their given names. So it was Light Yagami. This Light, he was L's loose end. Was he after L? Did he kill L? Would he be after me too?

Something felt entirely wrong about this Light character. I wanted to keep L as far away from him as possible. But that would depend on what information Gilbert came back with about this Light character. If L did want to do something about Light, something told me that Gilbert would help him and I wouldn't be able to stop either of them. Then there was this dark side of me which wanted to help L if this Light was to harm L. I immediately took a decision; I needed to get my hands on the information before Gilbert would share it with L. I needed to know more about L and Light before L got the answer he was seeking.

After all, I needed time to think a little and then come to a judgment about this Light and L. There were far too many secrets and for once I needed to know about things before hand. Before I was suddenly thrown in a situation and was forced to face things head on. I just needed to know before diving head in. I would find out about this Light Yagami before L did, no matter what it took.


	8. Sweet Scents, Mint and Obsidian Eyes

Hey everyone! This was a very long chapter. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it, if not more. I am very happy to see that so many people have been reading this story. But i would like to make a request to my readers, please review this story. I really have to know what you guys are thinking about this story, it would be very encouraging for me. So, Please Review and Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

There were only a handful of times when I had seen L be very serious, and all of those times were somewhat memorable. Not in the way that they were memories I cherished kind of memorable, but they were memories that I just couldn't forget. Like the time he calmed me down when I almost broke down in front of him when the portraits didn't move, or like the time he defended me and put himself between my grandmother and me. He always did do something perverted or absurd to break the tense mood and be his weird self again. I always got the feeling that being serious was something he just didn't do in front of other people. Saying he lacked social skills would be an understatement.

But that day, after he asked Gilbert to dig up on someone named Light Yagami, someone from his past, he didn't bother doing something stupid or act like a pervert to dispel the tense atmosphere. The truth was that he was tense and so was Gilbert and it was an important issue. An issue that didn't need to be blown off. He was in this quiet mood, practically in a shell.

He told us very clearly that this past of his was very dangerous for me and that it needed to be taken care of. I knew that I couldn't be involved in it in any way, since it could get me killed. But it would also get L killed and possibly Gilbert too. I was absolutely sure that this Light Yagami had something to do with L's death. It was easy to guess by L's reaction to this Light and the way this Light meant danger for me.

Now, there would have been a little window of hope for Gilbert and L to keep me away from this Yagami business if it was only about my safety. But, because L's life was at stake too, there was no way in hell I was going to sit back and be an ignorant little chit and do nothing. In less than five hours, L had become a friend to me and was someone who was ready to lay down his life for me as my protector, I'd be damned if I didn't do the same for him. His new life was important to me too. More importantly, he became a part of my house, my team and I always take care of what's mine. Always.

L had been so quiet as he followed me around. He was behaving almost like those ghosts in the house, the depressed ones. He walked in that strangely slouched way of his, almost dragging his feet along and even though he was beside me, he felt miles away. The only color on him was the blue of his pants. The stark whiteness of his shirt and his skin combined with his dark mop of hair and those dark eyes made him look all the more depressed. He never looked more like a spirit to me than at that moment. I half expected him to have the translucent and transparent look to him. I half expected my hand to go right through him if I opted to touch him. I swallowed a snort. Knowing about his grope-y hands, his hands were solid and they did not pass right through me.

For once, L's role and mine were reversed. This time I was the one who was watching him quietly and studying him. I got the feeling he didn't even notice. Hell, I wasn't being subtle about it at all. L was lost deep in his thoughts. His eyes were always moving, but not seeing anything. That thumb of his was back into his mouth and sometimes I saw him biting it so hard that I thought he would start bleeding badly and almost called him out to stop. Those few times, his eyes sometimes looked so pained, at other times they were enraged and a few times he looked so frustrated. I pitied that thumb of his. But he didn't utter a single sound from those pale lips of his. He kept to himself and followed me around. I was giving him time to think and taking time for myself to observe him too, so I walked around aimlessly in the mansion.

The mansion was huge and the halls and the ways of it were very complicated. Even if it wasn't complicated to someone, they still had to observe it. But he wasn't doing it at all. He was simply walking along with me. Not really looking at anything and just following along with me in a way that made it seem that he was just as familiar with the mansion as I was.

We had been walking around for about two hours and he still lost in his thoughts. When I first started to walk, Gilbert followed us closely. Well, followed me closely. Whatever little tolerance and acceptance Gilbert had shown towards L so far was completely gone. He was cold and guarded towards L. I knew Gilbert wouldn't bother to put up a show of being polite to L in front of me anymore. After all, L himself told him that I was in danger because of his past. It was only normal for him to follow us around after that. Like I said, I had known L for about five hours and Gilbert knew him for less than that. There was no way in hell Gilbert would trust L with me , well at least not until after Gilbert ran a complete check on L and knew about everything about him.

Another thing about Gilbert, Gilbert always checked every person I had contact with. In the beginning, well my early teen years, I had a severe problem with that. But, then even I got used to that. After all so many people had so many things to hide and more often than not, those hidden things were meant to harm me. It just was a risk that we couldn't afford to take. For example, there was this girl in this ice-cream parlor I used to go to frequently was keeping an eye on me. Her 'friends' had intended to kidnap me. I was thirteen back then and I had thought I had found a friend. Then there was a boy, well a man really, who saw me once with Victor in a restaurant. After that he had been asking around for me. Apparently, he wanted to harm Victor through me. I was I think ten or eleven back then. Victor and Gilbert had a huge argument over that. Gilbert mainly preferred keeping tabs on the people who worked near me or were in directly or indirectly involved with me. Now that I think about it, maybe he was doing that for reasons more than to keep me safe from human kidnapers and criminals who wanted me for my money. Maybe he was protecting me from the dangers of the supernatural world from the beginning.

Should I have asked him if he had been protecting me from the supernatural world and if so then what kind of supernatural creatures and dangers had he protected me from and how. Maybe I should have asked him, but somehow asking him that now seemed pointless. Especially because it was all in the past and they had worked so hard to let me have a somewhat normal life. All that mattered was what I was going to do with my future. I liked how my past was with my grandmother, Gilbert and Victor and I treasured every bit of it. I wanted to keep it just like that. Happy, treasured, precious memories. The very memories I would take strength from when I'd be in moments of great weaknesses and great despair.

Gilbert like me, studied L as he followed us. And I was also aware of the fact that Gilbert studied me study L. There was very little if not nothing missed by Gilbert. He left us after a while though, a soft touch on my shoulder and a glare at L which L did not notice and then Gilbert was gone. And I use the word 'gone' because that was exactly what he did. He vanished into thin air, gone without a trace that he was there in the first place. That finally made me accept a fact about my Gilbert. My Gilbert was not a descendant of Superman and he couldn't appear and disappear in a flash like I used to think. My Gilbert was simply an incubi-elf. He just was that quiet and fast. And he was a trained assassin. And the best butler. And my best friend.

I bit back a smirk when I noticed Gilbert's absence. I knew that either Gilbert went off to come up with plans about me leaving the house or he was gone to find out more about that Light Yagami person. In either of the two cases, I would have to do my best to find out exactly what was going on.

After that long walk, I ended up with L in my bedroom. He still wasn't talking to me. Something told me that it wasn't because he had some sort of problem with me, but it just the kind of person L was. He wouldn't be talking to anyone in the mood that he was. His silence was starting to bug me. I could have been patient but whatever that he was thinking about was causing him distress. Distress and tension was rolling off of him in waves. If he was planning something then he had no reason to be distressed, L did not look like that when he was thinking. He didn't have that calculative look to his dark eyes; his eyes had this glassy hollow look. Truthfully, that kind of disturbed me.

I sat down on my bed and finally decided to break the ice. I told him in my bossiest tone, "L, if we are going to be working so closely together, we need to be friends. There are things you need to know about me and things that I want to know about you. So we better start sharing."

Every thing was quiet for about a minute or so. I suddenly had this sinking feeling that maybe he would close himself off and just ignore what I said. And that maybe I was pushing him too much, maybe I needed to give him more time. He started at me with those panda eyes of his. I barely held back a snort; there was nothing panda like about those eyes. Pandas had adorable eyes and when they looked at you, you wanted to hug them and snuggle with them. L had these two darkly intense obsidian eyes when he studied you from afar, his eyes made you heat up with nervousness and embarrassment. His look made you want to fidget and ask him to stop looking at you in that strange manner.

I should have just asked him what he was staring at. But if I did that I would be admitting the fact that he made me feel uncomfortable. I did not want to admit defeat to him, especially when I wanted to make a break through with him and wanted to get answers out of him. So I stared right back into his eyes. My brown eyes met his nearly black eyes head on. We might have been staring at each other for over a couple of minutes, but it certainly felt like a hell lot longer. I was nearly giving up when he finally broke first.

He licked his lower lip in a rather slow manner. That suddenly brought forth my attention back to that weird tickling feeling in my stomach. I did not like that feeling at all. But I did not get the time to curse that feeling; L replied smoothly, "Miss Iris, we don't always get what we want in life. Since you said you want answers, not need them; let's not waste our time on that and focus on the necessities. You did say that there are things I need to know about you, so please feel free to tell me all about them, Miss Iris."

I glared at him hatefully; the bastard was twisting my words around. And I did not like the way he pronounced my name. It sounded like he was tasting the sweetest and the darkest of chocolates; his nickname for me practically sounded sinful on his tongue. It made me feel painfully uncomfortable. Suddenly, I was aware of the fact that I was alone with him. Alone with him in my bedroom. I was on my bed with him in the same room and no one around.

I didn't need a mirror to know that I was blushing. Damn it, I was never the one to feel cornered, no matter what lascivious thing a man was saying to me or feel all shy because a man had seen me and put me in a position of inappropriate behavior. But, for some reason, he was trying to force me to feel like that. I shook myself mentally, I had proper martial arts training and could very easily break every single bone in his body in less than half an hour; I should not be feeling like a rabbit in front of him. He certainly was not a wolf.

Then it hit me, the bastard was doing it on purpose. He was just trying to make me change the topic or run away from him. He was purposefully making me feel uncomfortable around him so that I wouldn't ask him questions. I was not going to be distracted that easily by his feeble attempts at… I didn't even know what to call them. Flirtations or seduction or intimidation. Whatever it was, it did not work on me, clearly.

So, I schooled my expressions into the best Gilbert impassive face I knew, and told him in a monotonous was, "L, please drop your rather futile attempts at changing the topic of conversation. I am reaching out towards you. If it is hard for you to talk about yourself right now, then we may start small. Talk to me like a normal person and engage in normal conversations. Ask me things that you want to know about me and in return I will ask you small unimportant questions as well. That is what I meant by sharing, L. I won't ask you anything big about your past yet, L but know this; I do hope we will come to a point in the future where you will like to share things about your past with me willingly."

L looked at me for a long time. Just looked at me and then he pouted a little as he muttered, "We are talking like normal people and having a normal conversation, Miss Iris. I don't see a need to ask personal questions."

I smiled at his petulant tone and replied, "We are anything but normal, L. And we are going to talk about unimportant stuff."

The 'for now' after that particular statement hung in between us in silence. He knew I would ask him deeper questions later on and he felt threatened by that. But what he didn't know was that I would allow him to ask me whatever he wanted too and we both were at the liberty of not answering any of the questions. So I really couldn't even begin to understand his mulishness about talking with me. Hell, he could make those lewd comments about me just perfectly, and he had no problems whatsoever with invading my personal space and putting his hands on me. So why the sudden wall of defense he erected around him? Just how terrible were his secrets or was it that he had never had anyone to share the said secrets with?

He was still looking stubborn and I could tell he was hell bent on not talking to me about himself. It was nearly impossible to make him understand let alone admit that we needed to talk to each other, about each other and learn about each other. So I decided to show him instead. I looked at him and stated in a somewhat cheery voice, "I am nineteen, L. How old are you?"

His thumb was back to his lips and he nibbled it dutifully as he ogled me from toe to head over and over again. I waited as patiently as I could for him to give me an answer, but the bastard was just too damned busy checking me out. Finally when his eyes met mine, I glared at him pointedly. Finally he answered, "That would depend, Miss Iris."

I scowled, he was being evasive again. I asked him as politely as I could, "Depend on what, L?"

He answered nonchalantly, "On whether you ask of the age I had at the time of my death or of that age and the added years of my death till now, Miss Iris."

Okay, so maybe I did not notice how loaded my question exactly was. And maybe it was a tad bit insensitive to ask a dead man his age. But in my defense, he was a summoned spirit, and I did not think he was that dead. He wasn't even one of the undead.

I just wanted to know how old he was, it was hard to tell his age; he looked so terribly young. He looked my age when he was being all weird and childish, but when he was comforting me or defending me or even on the verge of attacking my grandmother, he looked so much older. He looked almost as old as Victor then, so very commanding and intimidating. But when he was asking Gilbert to look up Light Yagami, he looked like a very old man. Someone who had lived through a lot and seen way too much of the world.

I was very curious about him. I frowned at him and told him, "L, to me you did not die, because I only came to know you after you were summoned. To me you are very much alive."

He looked so flabbergasted after hearing that. His eyes stared right at me unblinkingly and his mouth was wide open and that thumb was dropped from his mouth. I guess he found it hard to believe that someone would consider him alive after whatever that was that had happened to him. But, it did not take him too long to get over his initial shock.

He looked at me and said in a gleeful tone, "It makes L so very happy to know that Miss Iris finds L so important to her."

I really was beginning to hate that gleeful tone of his. I snapped right back at him, "Do not twist my words around and misinterpret it, L. Just tell me how old you were when you died, that is what your age will be!"

He pouted at me and replied softly, "I was twenty-five, Miss Iris. And if we go by what you say, then I should say, I am twenty-five."

I nodded at him and smiled a satisfied smile. That made sense, he wasn't very young neither was he too old. He was just in the middle. That was why he sometimes behaved like a kid and at other times acted like a leery old pervert. The fact that he was about five to six years older than me didn't matter to me. After all, all my friends, well most of them are ghosts and talking portraits and Gilbert, Victor and my Grandmamma were way older. So five years wasn't that big a deal.

For a few seconds a thought really hit me hard. He was just twenty-five when he died. He died so young. He missed out on so much of life, he had so many more years to live. But he died. But then I sobered up just as quickly. I didn't want to entertain the thought that he had died. He was now here and he had just as much a right to live out a somewhat normal life. He was alive right now, and that was all that mattered to me.

I looked back at him to find him watching me with a look of utter curiosity on his face. I bet he wanted to know what I was thinking. I smiled a small smile at him and informed him, "It is your turn to ask me something, L."

I waited for maybe a full minute as he continued to stare at me, and I was very close to losing my patience when he asked me tentatively, "May I ask you anything, Miss Iris?"

That question both peaked my curiosity to the highest limit and made me hear sirens going off in my head, warning me of the impending doom. What was he going to ask? I regarded him for a moment before I replied softly, "You may ask me anything, L but I cannot say I will provide you with an answer that will satisfy you."

I thought my answer would at least irate him for a moment, but no. My answer only made a slightly creepy but very secretive smile crawl onto his face. He chuckled a bit at me with eyes that clearly told me that he knew something I didn't know. How did he turn the tables on me like that? I wasn't about to let his stupid smile get to me, and even if it got to me just a little, I wasn't about to show that particular fact to him. I raised an eyebrow at him expectantly, waiting for him to ask me his question.

He stared at me; his eyes looked that intense shade of obsidian again. His voice was deep, smooth and like silk, but had this commanding quality that made chills run down my spine, "I have never met anyone who smells so sweet before, Miss Iris. Why do you smell so intoxicatingly like vanilla and cinnamon?"

The room suddenly felt smaller, warmer and the air in the room felt thicker. My tongue felt heavy and there were goose bumps rising on the skin of my arms and the back of my neck. That tingling warm sensation crept into my stomach and was stronger than ever and I knew for sure I had a full body blush going on. I swallowed thickly and urged my brain to work and come up with something witty and cruel to snap back at him. But I got nothing.

He wasn't budging his eyes away from mine and that was making it so very difficult for me to think. I could feel his voice wash over my ears and my body and the more I wanted to think, the more my brain was recalling his voice. I felt like a canary before a cat. A huge hungry feral cat. But things got even worse when I saw him take a step towards me. Towards me while I was sitting on a bed.

I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but I lost my voice and only managed to take deeper breaths through my mouth. I should have just stood up and created a large distance between us, but my body felt paralyzed. Almost numb actually, but if my body was supposedly numb then why did my skin feel so sensitive all of a sudden? It was all confusing and I was panicking a little.

I had never in my life felt like that before. I didn't know what to do and most importantly I did not want to do anything with him. I couldn't even tell if he was teasing me or if he was making a move on me but what I did know was that I wanted him to stop. My heart was beating so hard and so loud, I was surprised that he didn't hear it from where he stood.

He was about a few feet away from me when he crouched down on the floor and leveled his eyes with mine. His eyes suddenly felt even more intense if that were possible. My mind felt dizzy as I stared deeper into the slate gray and the deep blacks of his eyes. I was a bit scared that he would reach out and touch me; he was near enough to do it after all. But he did not move even an inch, only stared right back into my eyes.

He had said my eyes, my boring brown eyes looked like chocolate truffles to him. Did he even know how fascinating his eyes were even with those dark circles outlining them? A very weak voice in the back of my head defiantly whispered, of course he knew how fascinating his eyes were, he was fucking hypnotizing you with them.

His voice was a dark smooth whisper, demanding me to answer him, "What makes you smell so delicious, Miss Iris?"

A shiver ran down my spine and made my body felt warmer as that voice travelled to my ears. My mind stuttered as it processed his voice saying the word 'delicious' again and again. I was weakly willing it to stop, but it wasn't listening to me. To my utter horror, I found my eyes finally drifting away from his eyes. I said horror because the next destination of my eyes was even worse. His lips. Those thin lips of his. I was staring at them. His pink tongue had come out of his mouth and he made that appendage slowly travel from one corner of the mouth to the other. Slowly dragging and caressing and licking his bottom lip. I watched that slightly glistening lower lip of his as his tongue shot back into his mouth. That suddenly reminded me of the time he was licking cream from his lips back in the garden from when he was eating those cakes. I wondered if that lip of his was warm and if it tasted sweet. His lips were so pale but looked so smooth. I wondered if his upper lip would feel any different from his lower lip.

My body felt very hot and I think I felt something even hotter bubble and tingle deep down in my stomach as I watched those lips of his part open. He was breathing a bit hard, almost panting even. I inched a bit forward to study those lips of his. I needed a closer look. His breath suddenly hit my face when I was a bit nearer. His warm breath hit my face and I felt that familiar shiver run down my spine again. His breath smelled like mint; that was so very surprising and curious, considering the fact that all he ate was sugar this morning. Coffee, strawberry cake and chocolate sundae. His breath should smell of those things and should taste like them too. But why the mint? The strong, spicy and icy minty smell was making me breathe deeper and lean in closer. I needed to inspect more. Warm breath and icy mint, such a strange combination. His mouth should be warm, sweet and soft.

Delicious. Sweet. Miss Iris. So sweet. Vanilla. Intoxicatingly. Delicious.

It was a chant going around in my head as I leaned even closer to those lips. L's voice, dark, commanding and silky, was whispering them over and over to me. But he wasn't. It was my mind repeating and reliving them. I let out a shuddered breath and swallowed the knot I felt in my throat.

My body was leaning across, with my face so close to his when he moved. He moved probably half an inch forward, hardly noticeable, but I noticed. There was barely five inches between our faces, my nose could have very easily bumped with his. That half an inch move of his suddenly broke whatever spell he had casted on me. My eyes blinked hard and met his eyes and I knew he saw the confusion and panic in my eyes very easily. I clamped my open mouth shut and rushed my head back and sat up straight. I moved back so fast, I might have given Gilbert competition with my speed.

I was mortified with my unexplainable actions. Suddenly, I did not even know why I was leaning across and putting my face right into his when I was supposed to answer a question of his. My body suddenly cooled as if someone threw a few buckets of ice cold water on me and I stared back at him. He looked, dare I say it, disappointed as he pouted. Why, I did not know. What was going on and what was I going to do? The bigger questions were, what was L going to do and what did he want me to do? I huffed with frustration and irritation. I was confused, and I did not like being confused.

I was taking a few seconds to reset my internal systems and cool down completely and sort through the mess my mind had become. I blame that stupid voice of his for all this mess. I was failing miserably at figuring out what had happened and why I did what I did. In fact, I did not even know what I did. It was then when I noticed something. Even though he was crouching before me on the floor sitting in that odd way and looked disappointed and was pouting like a child, there was a gleam in those dark eyes of his that told me differently. His eyes were beaming with pride, he felt smug and it stroked his ego to make me do something like that.

That was what snapped me. I was not going to let this smug pervert of a spirit win, I stated, my voice crisp and cold, "I did not know that you made a habit of smelling every person you came across, L. Is that one of those talents you have in addition of eating grotesque amounts of sugar?"

His eyes dropped that annoyingly smug look and he looked curious once again as he stated seriously, "No, Miss Iris. It is just you, which is why I am curious as to what makes you smell the way you smell to me."

I looked at him critically and said, "That is an odd thing for someone to be curious about. But it seems that oddity is your forte."

He still looked serious and not at all bothered by the fact that I had indirectly called him a freak. I continued in an impassive voice, "I do not know as to why you have never met someone who smells like me. But that fact does imply that you have been sniffing around people, which is considered rather creepy by most people."

Even that did not bother him. I flat out called him creepy, and he didn't even twitch a muscle. I mentally growled at him. But I kept my poker face on; I couldn't let him see that I was bothered because he wasn't bothered by my comments. He replied in that same curious way, "Yes, that might be. But I am still curious as to why you smell the way you do to me, Miss Iris. I remember you saying that you would answer my question even if it might not be satisfactory to me, but you would give me an answer nonetheless."

I cursed him mentally and replied coolly, "Yes, I did say that, L."

He waited for a bit as I wondered for a few seconds. I really did not know why he seemed to think I smelled so different, but I did know why he might think I smelt like cinnamon and vanilla. I stood up and finally answered him, "Vanilla and cinnamon. I think you smelt the scents of the body wash and lotion I use, L."

With that I walked away from him and towards the door. I turned around to announce something to him but had gasped in surprise instead. He was too damned fast. He stood barely a foot away from me with a huge smile on his face. I cleared my throat to dispel the shock I felt. So he snuck up on me, big deal. Gilbert does that all the time.

The truth was I was still shaken from our recent encounter and his presence around me was a bit disconcerting to me. Well, it was disconcerting until I figured out what exactly happened. I told him in a bossy tone that I had perfected over the years, "We should go get something to eat. I am hungry and its lunch time."

I did not even wait for an answer from him and briskly walked away from him. I was far away from hungry; in fact, I didn't feel like eating anything at all, but I needed to cool down and think. And find out what was wrong with me. The bastard was right behind me. I could feel his body right behind me and that was annoying and made me feel cornered, again. I was just about to snap at him for walking so closely behind me when he commented in that cheery voice of his, "I think Miss Iris satisfied me to the fullest with her answer."

That made want to tear my hair right off and then tackle him to the ground and claw his eyes out. The bastard was doing it on purpose. He wanted me to throw a temper tantrum, but I wasn't about to play in to that. I seemingly ignored his comment and walked faster. As far away from him as possible.

While I walked through the long and complicated hallways of the house, I thought about my previous actions. What was I going to do back then. All I remembered and recalled perfectly was looking into his eyes, and listening to his voice wash over my ears. I remembered leaning into him, closer and closer. Staring at his lips. Watching him lick his lip and wondering how it would feel and how it would taste. I remembered his minty breath. Warm, wet, soft, smooth, sweet and minty.

Suddenly, it hit me like a train. I stopped walking, froze up and with terror came to a realization. I was almost about to kiss him. Kiss L. Taste him, feel him, and kiss him. A man whom I didn't even know for seven hours yet. I was about to kiss a stranger. I was about to give my very first kiss to a stranger who was a spirit and a pervert.

I was almost to the point of hyperventilation as I realized how easily he had seduced me. Then I reeled back, did he even seduce me? What had exactly happened, I couldn't be hit with all the raging hormones of a teenager I was suppressing. Because that was impossible, I just never was a hormonal lusting teenager, ever. Sure I didn't have any romantic and physical relationships or encounters with anyone in my entire life, but that didn't mean that I wanted to do all of that either. I never suppressed any urges ever. I met guys and a lot of them tried to make moves on me and they never worked and I was never interested. So what had happened back in my room?

I wasn't interested in L at all, then why did I almost kiss him? He didn't even make a move on me, it was all me. There just wasn't a logical explanation for any of this. It just didn't make sense. I had a purpose when I was with him in that room. I had a plan that I was working through, I was making him talk. So why would I drop all of that and forget everything and start wanting to kiss him? That too, without knowing the fact that I want to kiss him. It didn't make sense.

I was standing there, looking at the floor and figuring out all of that. L came and stood beside me for a while. I couldn't even ask him about any of this, if I did, god knows what kind of things he would say. The man was a loony pervert. He finally asked, "Why is Miss Iris staring at the floor?"

I looked back at him; he was studying me, his thumb back in his mouth to nibble on. I felt my stomach turn and felt sick for a moment. A few minutes ago, I was so close to nibbling on his mouth. The thought alone made my mind and body shudder. I grimaced and answered him weakly, "Nothing that would interest you, L."

"Oh, I don't particularly agree with that statement, Miss Iris. Everything about you interests me."

It was his voice that made me look up and right into his eyes. That same voice from before, dark, smooth like silk, and commanding. It was as if I fell into an old, familiar and comforting dream. I was staring at his dark eyes once again. Just when my body was heating up like before, everything clicked in place. I finally figured out what had happened. My eyes widened impossibly and I shuffled a few steps back from him as I realized something with dread pooling into my stomach.

My heart was rapidly beating against my chest and my head felt a little light. I swallowed hard and realized, L had seduced me; in fact, he hypnotized me, literally. The voice that played over and over in my mind, the numbness of my mind and the intense staring into his eyes. It all made sense, perfect sense. Knowingly or unknowingly, L had made me do something against my wishes; he had made me bend to his wishes.

Maybe he did it to make me answer his question truthfully. Or maybe he wasn't even aware of what he was doing. Or maybe he wanted me to kiss him. Or maybe it was a power of his he knew about, and was using against me. I did not know. But what I did know was that I needed to find Gilbert as fast as possible and ask him to help me out. And I had to make sure Victor and my Grandmamma did not find out about this particular power L held over me.


	9. Losing Temper, Jill and Taking Control

Hey guys! Sorry for the really late update. I had a vacation and some boy trouble to deal with. This new chapter is the third longest chapter so far and I hope it pleases you all. The chapter wasn't up to my expectations but it works. Regardless, please encourage me me further by leaving me reviews. Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

I had all but run like a demon was on my tail after my rather startling realization. Actually it was more terrorizing than startling. I didn't even bother to check to see if L was following closely behind me and was on the right track. God knows I should have, after all the abrupt and complicated turns and twists in the mansion were confusing for almost everyone. Even all the hallways mostly looked the same. I knew that many of the workers had been lost in these hallways and on different floors on so many numerous occasions. So it was expected of L to not know his way around this place as he was a new comer. But I did not bother with feeling guilty about that for too long, after all my main priority was to have some distance from L and figure out the problem before me. I mentally made a note of being far more cautious when with L by myself. I couldn't let him hypnotize me. Or whatever it was that he did back then. For some reason claiming that he almost seduced me seemed so childish and a baseless accusation since he did not proposition me in words exactly. At least not on that particular instance.

I found Gilbert in the kitchen, with our head cook of the house, Jillian Jenks. The cook, Jillian Jenks was a round mother hen of a woman whose main intent in life was to feed me till I exploded. She was very sweet and caring and apparently she has been here since my mother was a little toddler. Jill had the curliest brown hair that had hints of grays in them and a face that almost always smiled. Her sharp blue eyes always caught Victor and me when he raided the kitchens for food. The kitchen was her territory and you never did anything in it without her permission, but there were just a few people who she made certain exceptions for. Said exceptions being Gilbert and I.

The woman was a goddess in the kitchen; I didn't think there was anyone in the whole wide world that could compare to her cooking skills. There are many other helpers of hers, people who I never kept track of since they were silent and were asked to never bother me. When I was young I used to think that this was because Gilbert and my grandmother were being cautious about my safety and making sure that none of these workers ever caused any harm to me. But that day brought forth another realization; maybe these workers were of the supernatural kind too. That was why there were so strictly told to stay as far away from me as possible. I wondered with amazement if Jill was one too.

If she was then it would certainly explain why she was just so perceptive about our actions sometimes. From the time I was young, I had always noticed how Jill had always seemed to know how a person was feeling. She always knew if one of her workers was being dishonest or untruthful. She knew if Victor was in a bad mood and what to make for him to cheer up. She always knew when Gilbert and I needed alone time in the kitchen to talk. She always seemed to know when I was feeling down or lonely and needed some cheering up; and she always had my favorite flavors of ice-creams or my favorite kind of sweets ready for me. It was a game of the kitchens for a long, long time that Jill could always guess almost anyone's favorite food and make it to perfection too. No matter who entered our house, no matter who the guest was, they never left our house without feeling like they had a perfect meal. Jill really was a miracle worker.

Jill was very partial to Gilbert; almost cooing after him as if he was the most adorable toddler she had ever seen. The irony of the situation was that Gilbert was far from a toddler who barely reached the height of Jill's knees. In fact, it was the other way around, Jill barely reached my nose, and I was way shorter than Gilbert to begin with. Jill would nag at him to eat more and take more rest and not to wear himself out by running here and there, everywhere. I giggled whenever she did so, because Gilbert would patiently listen to her and come up with excuses.

Even though Gilbert and I loved Jill, sometimes she did get a tad bit unbearable. With her over-dramatic speeches and her manipulative ways. She wasn't below to resorting to tears and guilt-tripping us into doing her bidding. Sometimes she knew just when to not push you and leave you alone, but more often than not she was just stubborn into pushing you into a corner. That was it; she was just too damned stubborn sometimes. And she had a strange style of thinking. Things were always either black or white, she would never begin to understand or even tolerate the grays. But, despite our little tiffs, we loved her nonetheless.

That day when I rushed into the kitchen, Jill raised an eye-brow at me and told me to take a seat and that Gilbert would join me in a minute. I sat down impatiently; feeling extremely edgy. L sluggishly followed me in and took a seat right across me and was sitting in his usual odd crouching manner and was intently staring at me. That only made me feel edgier than I was and I avoided looking at him at all costs. So I stared at Jill and Gilbert.

Jill simply adored my mother and would often tell me of the similarities I had with my mother, but oddly enough she would never tell me about my mother. She loved my mother a lot, anyone with half a brain could tell that; yet she kept her lips tightly sealed about her. It was like I knew of my mother but nothing about her.

Gilbert once told me when I was about twelve that maybe it was hard for Jill to talk about my mother because she loved her. My mother from what I was told was a very lovable person. You couldn't help but love her and she was great at almost everything she did. She was raised in the mansion and everyone loved her. Then she got married and she did not move out. Then I was born. My mother's rather tragic and abrupt death left many people of the mansion almost inconsolable. So I believed Gilbert in a second when he told me that Jill was one of those inconsolable people.

Besides, it always felt like it hurt people to talk about my mother. Even my father. So I tried to not ask questions about them. But, Gilbert, Victor, Jill or even my Grandmamma would always tell me if I did something that reminded them a lot of my mother. But, that day I finally knew one of the reasons why they didn't talk to me about my mother. No matter how much I reminded them of my mother by my actions or my features, I wasn't anything like my mother. By the way my grandmother talked about her that day, I learned that my mother was a very powerful person. With spiritual energies that I was supposed to inherit from her, but I didn't. I was her only living memory, her legacy, but I didn't have it in me to make her proud. I didn't even know what she could do, but I already knew I couldn't measure up to her.

That was why everyone told me about her humor, her love for gardening, her love for reading, her love for animals, and many many more things. How she loved to always enjoy sunny days outside and how she always remembered everyone's birthdays and how she would always hum me to sleep. They would tell me all of these to keep her memory alive in me, to bring me closer to her, but they couldn't tell me about her supernatural life and her exceptional powers because I failed miserably at that. I disappointed them all where she was their pride and joy.

Just to avoid my long line of self-depreciating thoughts, I looked up to where Gilbert and Jill were still talking. Well, I had assumed they were talking, but they weren't. Gilbert and Jill were furiously whispering to each other. I watched their mouths move rapidly in faint fascination. I guessed Gilbert was telling her about L. Jill did not look too pleased. Her frown and pinched expression made my stomach clench with fear. Not because she was mad at me, but because she was upset. It was an unspoken rule in the house that you simply did not upset Jill.

An upset Jill was the worst kind of Jill. She would scold you and give you an unending list of chores as punishment. And she had such a knack for just knowing which person hated which kind of chore. For me it was working in the gardens as opposed to cleaning the library. I loved working in the library. She once said I was the stark opposite of my mother when it came to chores. My mother loved working in the gardens but hated working in the library and I was the opposite.

It was either out of the fear of her unending chores, or her ability to scream and nag at you relentlessly for hours or out of her emotional blackmailing techniques that you always made sure Jill wasn't ever upset and that you always did what Jill asked of you.

I noticed something odd about Jill. She wasn't exactly looking at L. In fact, her eyes were moving furiously over the table where I sat, it was as if she was searching for something. I figured maybe there was something on the table she was looking for. Her face took on an even severe look with each second that passed. Gilbert told her something which made her give him a very hard glare. A glare which made me flinch. Jill never ever glared at Gilbert. Ever. That glare alone should have shocked me, but Jill never did anything half-assed; she made me completely gob-smacked by reaching up and smacking the back of Gilbert's head. Hard. Jill just hit her golden boy, Gilbert. God, where was Victor when something good happened. He wouldn't believe me if I told him about this later on.

I actually blinked hard a couple of times to make sure I was seeing right. Honestly, the day was getting weirder and weirder by every hour. I was getting all kinds of shocks on that very day. I just wanted to stomp my foot down and demand for it all to just stop and give me a break. Suddenly, the idea of a light lunch followed by a long nap sounded perfect.

Suddenly, telling Gilbert all about L and my strange incident wasn't all that important to me. I felt tired from my day's experiences. I almost wanted to refer to them as trauma. And all I wanted to do was slip into bed and take a long nap. Not to wake up and think of all of this as a nightmare. No, I wanted to recharge myself and face all of this with more strength. I couldn't possibly even entertain the thought of being in denial for this situation. I couldn't afford to be selfish for this. Far too many people depended on me and for once, I did not want to disappoint them.

The thought about skipping lunch sounded wonderful too. I really wanted that nap. It was as if my mind was exhausted all of a sudden. I blinked in surprise and sat up a bit straighter when Jill stomped over to me and asked in her sternest voice, "Iris, where is this spirit that is supposed to be following you around? Is he near you?"

I numbly nodded, failing to find my voice and the right words to use. I did not know what to ask and what to say, but I did understand one strong fact. Jill couldn't see L at all. L was invisible to her. I finally looked at L, he was staring right back at me with a strange smile on his lips. I could tell that he was glad that Jill couldn't see him and that in return told me that Jill wasn't pleased about not seeing this spirit that was attached to me. Jill was able to see the other ghosts and paintings and spirits of the house though. And she kept most of them in line too, and the naughty ones were especially scared about messing up her kitchen. So, this was all confusing for me and my tired mind simply did not want to figure out another riddle.

It was Gilbert who made things easier for me like he always did. He stood right behind Jill as he said, "Little Miss, I have informed Mrs. Jenks of most of this day's events. But for her to see L, you need to want her to see him. I am afraid Mrs. Jenks does not possess enough spiritual powers to see your spirit guardian."

Before I could even ask Gilbert how to make Jill see L, Jill shot a particularly venomous glare at Gilbert and then put her warm hand on my head. I always loved the way she would caress my hair, her touch was always soft and very soothing. It made me calm down. And just like when I was little, I buried my head right into the fabric of her immaculately clean white apron and closed my eyes. I just concentrated on breathing lightly and the feel of Jill's fingers caressing my hair. This day had been far too eventful for me, and what was worse was that there was more to come.

I sighed tiredly and tried to smile at how Jill always smelled like green apples. She smelt so familiar; it was a scent that made me feel safe. After all, it was a part of home. Tears were stinging at my eyes as my traitor of a mind reminded me that that house wouldn't be my home for long. I had to go out there and find myself a new home. All of a sudden I felt weaker than ever and all I wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up stronger.

It was Jill who took prompt action. She was talking to me ever so softly, "Iris love, I know you are not very hungry, but you need to eat something. You look so very tired, my angel. How about you take a nap after you get something to eat and we will all talk after you wake up."

Her idea sounded so blissful. I nodded my head mutely. I really did not want to let go of her but she had to go and get me something to eat. I just wanted a light chicken sandwich and a glass of water and then sink into my soft bed.

Jill had this way of caressing my hair. It was something only Jill could do and as strange as it may sound, I had told Gilbert about it and he agreed with me. Jill would caress my hair in this really gentle way and I swear it was so gentle and loving that I could feel my hair become softer than it was. She did it to Gilbert's hair too and Gilbert like me couldn't help but like it. She just made me feel loved.

Jill cooed at me while she did her thing with my hair, "How does a nice chicken sandwich sound, love? And then you could take that nap."

See, she did it again. Jill guessed exactly what I wanted without me uttering a single word about it. I smiled a little and answered back, "That sounds great, Jill."

I watched Jill leave me and flit around the kitchen preparing my sandwich. It was better to watch her than make eye contact with either L or Gilbert. I still didn't figure out how to tell Gilbert about the L situation. And all of a sudden Jill stopped spreading the mayo on my sandwich for a second and her face scrunched up in this really annoyed expression. She asked in a voice that barely with held her contempt, "Does that spirit thing following you around want anything to eat too? Or does it not eat because it only follows you around like some sort of psycho stalker?

Her eyes were glaring and flitting around the space she thought L was sitting at. I didn't know if she was really expecting an answer from me or was she expecting a retort from L for the insult she threw at him, but what I did know was that L was still staring at me. I snuck a quick look at L and he wasn't the least bit bothered by what Jill said. He just stared at me completely unperturbed and with that same gleeful smile that crept me out all the time. Well, most of the time.

I answered Jill nonetheless, "Jill, remember all that cake and the huge sundae you had to send out for us for brunch today?"

I didn't even need to look at Jill to see her nod; I continued, "Yeah, all that went right into the psycho stalker's mouth."

Jill sniffed disdainfully and stated in a voice that was equally drenched in disdain, "Well then, the Krakens need not worry about killing your bodyguard. He will die without them doing anything. Of diabetes."

I couldn't hold back my snort. Jill was funny when she was all prissy with someone. Usually it was Victor. L was frowning at Jill's claim of him dying. And for a second I thought maybe it hurt L's feelings. You know, he already died once and here was someone mentioning him dying again. Even if it was meant as a joke, it still would have hurt.

But no, that wasn't it at all. I was beginning to see that I had a lot to learn about the enigma, otherwise known as L. L was mumbling sulkily, "I won't let the Krakens get to Miss Iris, not even if I die."

If nothing else, the bugger was pretty persistent it came to his job. The panda-man wasn't even bothered by Jill mentioning him dying again, oh no, he was more fixated on his objective. Sometimes I really wondered how his brain worked. Then again, maybe it was a good thing that I didn't know how his brain worked.

But I figured it was a bit insensitive for Jill to talk about L's death, especially when he was going to put his life at stake for me. And I did have to side with L every now and then considering the fact that I was probably the only one who wanted to be civil with him. Gilbert would be entirely fake with him all the time since Gilbert's first priority would always be me. Jill already disliked him and was on the same path as Victor. Victor, from what I saw hated him. My Grandmamma on the other hand, was using him. So from where I stood, L really did not have a single ally in this place except me.

So I had to make Jill behave herself. My voice was quite emotion-less when I informed Jill, "Yes, Jill. It seems that L's life is really quite insignificant. Since he died once, he might as well die again on my expense, so what should it matter if he dies by the hands of the Krakens or by diabetes."

I had defended only Victor before when it came to Jill. So this came as a shock to both Gilbert and Jill. Gilbert took in a sharp breath and Jill gasped. Jill's face was so confused when she was sputtering at me, "I-Iris, what? I was just…well, I-umm…He shouldn't even be here. Taking away what little peace you had by following you around like some sort of stalker. Like a spirit can do anything when it comes face to face with a Grimm. I don't know what was your grandmother thinking!"

Suddenly, I couldn't take it any more. All the secrets and all of my loved ones thinking that I was completely incapable of making decisions for myself. Of them keeping me in the dark and doing whatever the hell they wanted with my life with not even asking me. I couldn't take it.

Gilbert and Victor hiding everything from me, that I understood. Gilbert had to follow orders and Victor couldn't disobey my grandmother. And there was the fact that both of them were supernatural creatures who were basically my grandmother's soldiers on call. And that was a mild way of putting it. My grandmother hiding so many things from me, well she didn't have a choice did she? No matter how harsh it sounded, I was without powers and keeping me away from all this magical creature stuff was only for my own safety. So I accepted it.

But Jill. My Jill. The Jill who was almost like a mother-figure to me being one of the people who lied to me since I was a baby. How did she fit into all of this? Was she some sort of supernatural creature and a hunch-woman for my grandmother too? What else did she know, she already knew about the Krakens and the threat that they proposed.

All along she knew that I was a powerless girl and by the way she sang my mother's praises she definitely knew just how much of a supernatural genius and powerhouse my mother was and yet she never ever thought of telling me or even hinting me about any of this. It stung that even she was deceiving me. Sweet old Jill wasn't so sweet after all.

I was seething with in. It was like a dam that was holding back all the anger since the morning was breaking. Sure, I had gone through the shock and all the emotional trauma in the morning. But the anger, that I hadn't dealt with yet. But who was I angry at? That I didn't know. All I knew was that I was angry and I needed an outlet.

My mouth was opening and closing again and again as I furiously thought of saying or screaming out something at Jill. Suddenly, it was Jill who was going to be the target of my bottled up anger and frustration. She didn't have a single reason to keep her mouth shut yet she never told me anything and now she was giving L hell for being forced into becoming my body guard.

In my red haze of anger I failed to notice just how pale Jill had suddenly gotten and how she looked scared and hurt and was on the verge of crying. I hadn't even said anything to her yet she already felt the waves of my anger. I should have seen the way her hands were trembling and how she was biting her lip hard. But the thing is, I didn't notice any of that. I was just too busy letting my rage consume my mind.

I did hear Gilbert call out my name a few times, but I ignored him as I clenched and unclenched my fists trying desperately to stop myself from screaming out at him. I was just about to force my voice out of my suddenly dry throat and lash out at Jill; I was going to start with how big a liar she was and how she could shove her so-called protective attitude up where the sun didn't shine because she didn't have any right to say anything about L. That she should take her shrilly grating voice and nag at some one else because I was done hearing anything from a liar. I was going to rant and curse her out.

"Miss Iris is so possessive of L. Miss Iris doesn't like it when other people are mean to L because only Miss Iris gets to be mean with L. Miss Iris thinks L belongs to Miss Iris. L quite likes it when Miss Iris gets possessive of L."

And that was what suddenly flushed out all that anger out of my body. And immediately every corner of my body was covered in thick humiliation and heavy embarrassment. I was harassed once again by that loony perverted bastard. I snapped my head so fast to glare at him that I was surprised I didn't get a whiplash. He was biting his thumb again and he was giggling at me. Those weird eyes of his were leering at me. God, how I hoped that the thumb he always chewed on could get infected by something painful and that he would never be able to bite on it ever again. Or that his teeth would rot because of all that sugar he eats, that way he won't have any teeth left to bite his thumb with.

I leapt at him, straight across the table and took fistfuls of his shirt and started shaking him. And I yelled at him, "Stop saying things like that, you pervert. Stop making me sound like some freak who likes having your psychotic fixation on her. I am not fucking possessive of you and I do not fucking want you to imply anything like that about me again. I swear I will sew your fucking lips shut the next time you refer to yourself in third person!"

He blinked like an owl once again and was pouting at me. The man was quickly becoming the bane of my existence and I didn't know how was he to protect me from whatever harm that came my way when he was the one who made me want to commit suicide whenever he opened his mouth and say something like that. He was continuously pouting as I continued to glare at him and at some point during my glaring at him, my eyes slid down lower to his pouting pale lips. There was barely a few inches between our faces and in a flash, I was hit with memory of us together in my bedroom. I let go of his shirt and of him and jumped back away from him as if he were some sort of fungus.

I didn't need a mirror to know that I probably looked quite frazzled all of a sudden and that I had definitely made Gilbert and Jill notice it too. I had to talk to Gilbert about it and fast. I looked at Jill and told her in a voice that I knew sounded like my grandmother's when she was giving orders to Gilbert, "Jill, a lot has happened today and it has come to my knowledge that there are lots of things related to my life that I haven't known about. I would appreciate it if you would be civil and polite to L. Do not make me remind you again that L like me has been forced into a situation where we are to face dangers unknown to us if not death, with little to no information about anything at all."

I might have sounded like a bitch, but at that moment I didn't care. I needed to take control of things and to start with I couldn't let Jill take over the situation and make bigger problems for me before I even had the chance to figure out what kind of mess I was in to begin with. For once, I needed to call the shots.

I looked at her to find her looking down at the half-made sandwich looking thoroughly ashamed and hurt. There was a sudden clench that I felt at my heart but I couldn't let that guilt make me back down. Someone needed to call Jill out on her misbehavior and her quick temper. She maybe a mother figure to me and the one who was in charge of the kitchen, but there was no way in hell I was going to let her make my decisions for me or let her interfere in my business. Just like how I was not going to let my grandmother do any of that. Because this time my ignorance and their so-called good intention would put numerous lives at stake.

I turned to look at Gilbert and I noticed how rigid he had suddenly become and his eyes looked almost cold. That was expected in a way, after all I had just lashed out at one of our closest friend. But, emotional ties could be put on hold. I asked him in what I hoped was a strict voice, "Gilbert, is this place safe for us to talk about matters of my house?"

Almost immediately, the icy attitude of his dropped. He looked at me with slightly wide eyes and took a moment to answer. His voice actually held a tone of wonderment that he had failed to hide, "Little Miss, all the workers are on a leave for this day except a select few. They happen to be the most trusted of the workers and the kitchen is safe considering the fact that Mrs. Jenks has informed us that she will be leaving with us and she will join your house."

They were hiding things from me again and not even including me in discussions. I asked sharply, "Did I give admittance to Mrs. Jenks to my house, Gilbert?"

There was a sharp gasp heard from Jill's direction followed by loud sniffling and muffled sobbing. She was crying. But that was something she always did when she didn't get her way with Victor and me. She would emotionally blackmail us when we, her 'children' didn't listen to her. I ignored her and looked expectantly at Gilbert for an answer. He blinked a couple of times at me and answered, "No, Little Miss."

I asked again, "Did she come to me to ask my permission, Gilbert?"

He answered immediately this time with his eyes lowered, "No, Little Miss."

I raised an eyebrow at him and asked him emotionlessly, "Then pray tell me, Gilbert as to why I am being informed of such decisions. Why, as the head of my house, am I not the one making said decisions, Gilbert?"

His eyes met mine for only a fraction of a second probably, and that was enough for me to see the awareness he had. He wouldn't be making my decisions for me, because I was capable of doing that for myself. I was not a little girl anymore for him to protect and I was all grown up and was taking control. That was the moment when we both knew it. His eyes were lowered and he looked thoroughly apologetic as he replied, "My apologies, Madam. Such a mistake shall not be repeated again!"

There was a quick shuffle of feet and some more sniffling and slight sobbing as Jill dramatically and a little hysterically told Gilbert that she needs to go see something in the garden. She didn't even wait for a reply and it was a good thing that she didn't because none of us even spared her a look as she hastily left. If she expected any of us to actually go after her and apologize, she was wrong. We had serious business to deal with.

There was a whole list of things I wanted him to do and everything needed to be done as quickly as possible. Something told me that I didn't have much time on my hand. I gave him quick orders, "Gilbert, I want information on the Krakens and my family. Specifically, my mother, father and grandmother. I want to know about all their powers and the bloodline and about what supernatural creatures they exactly are and what that makes me."

"As you wish, Madam."

"I want information on Victor and you too. Everything from abilities to your binding with my family and me."

There was a slight pause and then, "As you wish, Madam."

"I want to know how exactly L was summoned and how this binding between him and I work."

"As you wish, Madam."

"I want a list of the candidates who want to join my house and a separate list of the candidates who will form my detective team with all of their individual information on my desk before my meeting with my grandmother and Victor tomorrow."

A longer pause, but a much more determined tone, "As you wish, Madam."

"Inform my grandmother and Victor that I expect them tomorrow at noon in my grandmother's study for a meeting and that I will not consent to seeing them before that and I will not tolerate tardiness."

"As you wish, Madam."

"Make me a list with individual files of all the candidates eligible to become the next head of the Ravenhart family, that includes my distant cousins, members of the Krakens family and the employees of the Ravenhart family. While you're at it, I want an entire database on all the employees and houses of the Ravenhart family."

"As you wish, Madam."

"I also want information on the Council, the royalties of this supernatural world, the other important families and bloodlines. Divide all the individual files into three piles, based on their stance to us. Ally, Enemy and Neutral."

"As you wish, Madam."

Before I could utter out my next order, L spoke up. And what was surprising was that he was staring at me not in the usual leery way. He was back to studying me intensely. His eyes darkening into that burning black from the usual cool grey. His voice was serious, smooth and deep, "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? Isn't this entirely too much for poor Gilbert to do in such a short time?"

It seemed that L was normal like this only when he was getting serious about something. I replied back with a wide smirk, "L, you clearly don't know Gilbert like I do. If Gilbert really is a spy, an assassin and a master strategist then he already has all the information I am asking of him. His only job is to take them out from wherever they are and present them on my desk."

I didn't need to look at Gilbert like L was looking at him to know that Gilbert had a similar smirk on his face as the one I had on mine. L looked back at me and I was slightly surprised to see his eyes burn with excitement and that small smile on his lips as he too saw how serious I was about all of this.

Just to clarify things, I asked, "All of it will be on my desk with in the next 3 hours, Gilbert?"

Gilbert's reply was immediate, "It will all be delivered to you with in the hour, Madam. Would you prefer it all in paper or on your laptop?"

I smiled, "On my laptop, Gilbert. Also I expect all of said information to be on the computer systems in the new house under heavy security to be accessed by myself, you and L only."

"As you wish, Madam."

"Another thing, Gilbert."

"Yes, Madam?"

"This is a particular request you will need to work on immediately. I need information on a specific matter."

"It will be done, Madam."

I smiled at L my sweetest smile and it threw him off guard for a few seconds because he stared at me completely stumped. I stated, "I want to know who my spirit guardian exactly is and I want all the information on his life. Also I want the information on Light Yagami and of the threat he might or might not possess to me."

I heard Gilbert swallow a chuckle as he replied, his voice dripping with delight, "As you wish, Madam."

L looked panicked, angry and shocked. His dark eyes were glaring daggers at me as his lips were tightly pressed together in a fine line. I looked at him in the eyes, unperturbed by his anger and said, "L, I know you were forced into this by my grandmother and that you are going out of your way to help me out. In fact, you have not once complained about this situation and I thank you for that. But, you are going to be a member of my house and in a way under my protection and employment and I need to know all of this about you. I would have preferred to give you time to tell me all about yourself and about Light Yagami on your own accord. But I do not have that time at my hand. So, forgive me for doing this."

I had wanted him to become a friend of mine and to give him time to come around. But at that moment even I knew that L might put his life at stake for me but he wasn't a friend of mine. At least not for a long time and it would be silly of me to consider him one at that point. If I had to become the next head of the Ravenhart clan I had to become much more perceptive, calculative and a better strategist. I couldn't let L and the others keep any more secrets from me.

L looked calmed down as his eyes took in that familiar scheming look. I could tell that he was still angry at me and that he would pay me back for this. But, that was something I had to risk to get what I needed. He was smirking at me as his eyes travelled all over me. It looked like he was checking me out. But, truthfully, I knew he was reappraising me.

My voice was the sweetest of poisons when I told him, "There will be no more secrets kept from me, L. No matter how big or small they might be."

L repeated with a small smile, "No secrets, Miss Iris."

Gilbert's voice added in, "May I be excused, Madam?"

I hid a smile as I asked, "Are you going to do all the things I asked you to do, Gilbert?"

"Yes, Madam. Will there be anything more?"

I nodded at him and replied, "Just one more thing, Gilbert."

"Yes, Madam?"

"I will be always your Little Miss, Gilbert. Don't make me correct you again."

I looked back at him to see him smile at me. His green eyes were bursting with pride. He replied in that same familiar tone, "As you wish, Little Miss."

And he left me alone with L then.


	10. Leading the Leader

Hey Readers! Sorry for the delay in the of the update. I had some family thing to give my attention to. I am the proud sister of a beautiful baby cousin. It's a boy and I will be having another baby cousin by my beautiful aunt by December or January. I want a girl next...There are too many boys in the family. Anyways, i know this chapter is a bit shorter than the ones before but I hope you will like it and please encourage me more by reviewing. Pretty please. Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

L was studying me once again, in his usual quiet and slightly creepy manner. Okay, extremely creepy manner. I was starting to feel like a goldfish in a bowl. Well, him staring at me made me feel like that. Either that or like some sort of rare species of bacteria he was studying like some sort of scientist. But, I guess I had to get used to his eccentricities. After all we were going to be stuck together for a long time.

L was quiet for quite some time before he finally told me in a tone that was cheery but his eyes did not match his tone, "It seems that Miss Iris has changed her mind about letting L tell her about himself willingly. I wonder why, though. What could have made Miss Iris lose her composure and go against her word?"

I knew that was coming. In a way, if he didn't ask me that I would have been more offended. Him asking for an explanation for my action meant that he cared enough to understand the reasoning behind my actions. That was something that I required from someone with whom I was going to be working with in the long run.

I looked right into his eyes and told him honestly, "I am just getting the answers I need to know to the questions I know you won't answer. L, I have all the time in the world to learn about you as a person, to become your friend and for you to become my friend. But, I cannot wait for you to come around and tell me about what you were in your past life and about your death. I need to know because I cannot take the risk of something of your past to come and endanger you, me or my house. That includes this person named Light Yagami. Because believe it or not L, in a way you are under my protection as I am under yours."

He considered my rather long speech for a moment or to before he smirked at me and asked dryly, "Do tell me how is that I am supposed to trust you and become your 'friend' when you are prying into my life! When you are showing no respect to my privacy?"

I replied back without missing a beat, "Just like how you are putting your life at risk for my safety. Just like how you are going to turn my life upside down my dragging me away from my home and teaching me how to become a 'detective'. Just like how you show me no respect when you harass me."

He took a moment and then smiled widely at my retort. How I amused him when I wanted to insult him, I'll never understand. I really did want to have a long talk with him, about what exactly that I didn't know. So, I didn't say anything and he didn't like to talk, so he didn't say anything, it was soon becoming a legendary fact that L only spoke when he had to say something to harass me, other than that, he just kept quiet and watched everything else around him. We must have sat together for about an hour or so.

Eventually I got up and made myself a sandwich and quietly finished it. I did ask him if he wanted me to make him something to eat, but he refused. I could tell he was deep in thought. He wasn't brushing me off by any means; he was just too deep in thought.

It was when I was just about to get up again to wash my plate L spoke to me. His voice was once again serious but it was his eyes this time that had my attention, "Miss Iris, there maybe some people who I think maybe good for your team. We should ask Gilbert to look into them."

L rather abrupt suggestion caused all kinds of bells to ring in my head. Hell, I even saw some multi-colored signs flashing in my head too. Did his sudden input surprise me? Yes, it did. But, my curious mind was on over-ride on finding out why he would suggest that. I wanted to know who these people were whom he would want on my team. I wanted to know the background of these people and his relationship with them. But most importantly I wanted to know why he would want them on the team when he clearly knew that they knew he was dead. Why would he risk that? Was he looking for a way to get back to those people from his old life? It would be quite natural for him to do so, but would it be safe? For them, for us and for him?

So, I slid on my mask of cool indifference and made sure my tone was only that of slight interest as I asked him, "And who are these people you think maybe good for the team, L?"

I had to hand it to him, his mask of indifference was possibly better than mine. His voice was crisp as he replied, "Just some people I have worked with before and some people I knew. They might be just what we need."

I told him in a matter-of-fact tone, "I don't need to know the identities of these people. I will find that out as soon as you ask Gilbert to run a check on them. And in the end it will be my decision as to whether I want them or not. So, I won't ask you anything about them. But there is something that I will ask you, L."

He cocked an eye-brow at me and looked at me. I asked him directly, sparing no thought as to how insensitive I might sound, "Do you want to risk involving these people in this situation? Especially considering the fact that you are dead to the world and only came back as of this morning. No one knows of the supernatural world or of supernatural powers let alone of said supernatural powers bringing you back to life with powers. Do you want to include them in these 'clan wars'?"

I think the slight glare he was sending my way was him taking offense that I was questioning his suggestion. Hell, what he didn't know was that I would question his everything. That was the sort of position I was in. I would question his motives and his suggestions until the day I could firmly say that I could trust him without question. What nobody understood was that I was suddenly in a situation where I was forced to question the loyalty of everyone I knew. Didn't he see just minutes before how I didn't let my emotions and feelings for Jill get in the way of this particular job? Or did he expect some kind of special treatment for himself? Did he actually think that I would blindly follow his instructions and become a puppet for him just because he was my guardian spirit? I wasn't a child and I would not stand to be manipulated like one.

I didn't even bother to notice his glare as I continued my questions, "Are these people you are talking about supernaturals or do they have special abilities? Are they your family and friends? What makes you so sure that will be good for my team? What kind of work did you do with them that makes you so sure that they could fit in a supernatural detective team? I want all the information on them, L and it would save a lot of time if you start talking right about now."

He looked at me almost critically for about a full minute while I concentrated on taking deep breaths and on not strangling him for answers. His reply was curt and smug, "Why waste time on repeating the same thing twice? You will find all the answers that you seek from me in the files Gilbert will have for you."

And that's when it hit me. He wasn't so much as bothered by my sudden intrusion into his life; he knew that he had to hand over answers eventually. Either that or that I would find out from other sources over the period of time that we would be working together. He wasn't bothered by any of that. Hell, he wasn't even that bothered about his death or the way he died. His issue was completely different and I had figured it out.

This time I eyed him critically. He was looking right back at me with a smug expression that I was about to wipe off.

I started in a dry tone, "Yes, answers that I seek from you. Meaning I want them from you and not from Gilbert. If I had wanted them from Gilbert then I would have asked him and not you. Even if those answers turn up in those files, they will only be there to confirm your answers."

He looked almost ready to retort something witty, or confusing or insulting to me. That I knew. But I didn't give him a chance. I continued in a taunting voice, "The questions I ask, the intrusion isn't the thing that's bothering you, L. The thing that is bothering you is me taking control, isn't it?"

He looked at me sharply and huffed through those thin pale lips. I asked him smugly, "Never let anybody else lead, did you, L?"

I tauntingly whispered to him, "You always led people around and now you can't tolerate me giving you orders and you having to follow them to a T."

I took barely a second to look at his expression before I got up as quickly as I could to go and wash my plate. He looked completely furious. A little like how he looked back when he was crouching between my grandmother and me in the study. But mostly, his lips were pressed tightly together and he was glaring daggers at me. And if I would be honest, I swear I felt the rage wafting over to where I was standing from his direction.

My situation was like a naughty kid who had poked a sleeping lion through a cage with a long and pointy stick and turned about and ran like hell just when the lion was about to roar at him furiously. But you can't blame me for taunting him, he had been doing nothing but harassing me since the morning and after the bedroom incident, I'd take whatever little power I'd have over him. Yes, I was that petty. And yes, I was that childish. And yes, taunting him and saying things that I knew irked him and made me feel better was just my vindictive side standing up.

I took as much time as I possibly could by washing that single plate and the entire time I felt the blaze of L's glare on me. Just when I kept the plate back on the rack after drying it did he say something. His voice was best described as sulky, "And what makes you think that I want control, Miss Iris? That I would want to be rude to people and order them around and hurt the people who care about me in the process like you are doing right now."

I had to force myself to not snort disdainfully at his pitiful attempt at insulting me. If he thought a dig at me over how I ordered Gilbert and treated Jill was going to make me burst into tears, then he was wrong. I had thicker skin than that. I already cried in front of him enough that day to last a life time.

I smiled my prettiest smile at him and stared right at his glaring face and replied sweetly, "I noticed how you react to dominant figures. Blatantly denying their control and rebuffing their orders."

His eye-brows rose and disappeared behind the mop of dark hair on his head. I continued in the same tone, "I saw how you reacted towards my grandmother, who is your summoner. I saw how you ignored Victor, whom I know to be one of the most dominant figures ever. I was there when you took complete control over the plan to make me the proper heir. And just when my grandmother gave into you and not me. I emphasis, to your plan, you became completely comfortable in your skin."

His expression was completely blank by the time I was finished saying that. He was staring at me with dark eyes and a contemplative face. His thumb after a few seconds was back in his mouth as he almost hungrily studied me. It was then that I finally knew that he saw me as more than a little powerless girl he was bound to keep from harm's way. And what was more important was that even he accepted that fact at that moment.

I could have left him to think more on the train of thought he had, but I had a hell lot more to say to him and so I continued, "Your suggestion was again, something that you had complete control over. You want me to become a detective, which you tell me you know a lot about. You said you will make me one of the best detectives, which means you want control over me to change me. For my benefit, but you plan on changing me nonetheless. You want a say in who gets to be on my team and you won't tell me anything about yourself because every little bit of information to you is like power. Giving out information is like giving out control, which you cannot do. And moreover, you taunt me, tease me, embarrass me and harass me because you like to see me be submissive to you. In a way it gives you power over me. And your entire intention from the beginning was to make me the queen on the throne while you control me from the shadows."

If I thought he was studying me hungrily before, by the time I was finished, he was practically salivating. On the inside I was very much unnerved by his expression but on the outside I was radiating a defiant face that I knew would make Victor proud. His gaze was so predatorily intense that it sent shivers down my spine and I finished with a final taunt that was well deserved, "You say I am rude and that I hurt my loved ones, L? Don't be a hypocrite, I know for a fact you would the same were you in my position and I already know that you have done so in your past life."

He was quiet and even though it seemed that I had the last word, his ecstatic eyes and that smarmy smirk on his lips said otherwise. I was almost out the door when I told him to follow me. I walked slowly this time, taking my time to walk around the long and confounding hallways of the mansion. I had no need to hurry and no reason to run from anything or anyone. I had dealt with my issues and taken back control over my life. I had a game plan and I planned on beating whatever hurdle that would come my way.

I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad, scared and confused like before either. I was content at that moment as I dragged my feet along the floor and made my way lazily towards my bedroom. L was walking at the same pace behind me and I could feel his eyes on my back and I wryly thought that I had to get used to that feeling after all, he wasn't going any where any time soon and I knew for a fact he wouldn't stop staring at me.

We were almost three hallways away from my room when I heard L's voice take on that dark and smooth quality again as he breathed bursts of air near my ear, "I think you will make a very fun toy for me, Miss Iris. Very fun, indeed."

The fine hairs on the back of my neck rose and my heart thudded loudly. That hypnotic voice I had heard before seemed to multiply by ten folds as he whispered directly into my ear, I could almost feel the texture of his voice hitting my ear and seeping into my body making me feel oddly warm in some places and cold in other places. But I guess, not looking directly into his eyes and being aware of his ability to use that voice on me, made me a little immune to him. I took in a deep breath; the smell of mint was thick around me. And I replied in a calm voice, "Oh, I don't think that will be much fun, L. But I know of one thing that will be indefinitely of much more fun than that."

This time I felt his lips press almost feather lightly against my hair and on the edge of my ear as he asked almost seductively, making me drown in the scent of mint, "What's that, Miss Iris?"

I forced my mind to imagine a picture of Victor and practically ordered my heart to calm down as I replied, "Carving your voice box out of your throat with a butter knife."

His chuckle was dark and just as seductive as his voice as he took a step back from me. I felt the warmth behind my body disappear and noticed just how close he was to touching me, but he didn't. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and heard him claim in his normal cheery voice, "Miss Iris is always threatening poor L."

God, how easily he switched his methods and used them to his full advantage. Silently I walked, resenting how easy it was for him to throw me off my game. I claimed dryly, "Give me a reason to trust you, L and I will stop questioning and threatening you."

And even though he didn't reply back and I stayed quiet, we both knew just how honest every word of that last statement was. We both knew that I wanted to trust him but I had no reason to, so I couldn't. He wouldn't trust me because I wasn't his toy. He wouldn't give in to me because I wouldn't give in to him first. I wouldn't give into him because he wouldn't give into me first.


	11. Naps, Secrets, Aliases and Notebooks

Hey! I am so very sorry for the super late update. Things came up with the family and there were so many events in my life that just demanded all of my attention. Sorry for that. I hope you have all remembered this little fic of mine and will read it and enjoy it like you have done so previously. So here it is, the new chapter and it is the longest chapter so far. And this year I do hope that you will all leave me reviews. Please leave me reviews. Please encourage me with reviews, and tell me how you are liking the story. Anyway, Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

I was back in my bedroom with L. A sudden flash of what had happened between him and I came to my mind and I buried it deep back in my mind. I had almost kissed him and it was a very well known fact that I did not want to kiss him. I was not attracted to him, I barely even knew the guy. It must have been something else and I was hell bent on finding out what it was and how it happened. But I wasn't scared or panicked like I was before about being alone with him. I was in much better control of myself.

I looked around my room and suddenly felt like touching every single item of my room. I felt like memorizing every part of my room, the place where I had spent my entire lifetime in. I was probably not going to be seeing it ever again. The chances were that even if everything did go according to plans and I came out of it all clean and back into this house, things were never going to be the same.

I silently wondered if I could replicate my new bedroom in the new house based on this one. If I asked Gilbert to do so, he would do it without a question. I told myself to think about it; to seriously consider it, because that might be the only thing that I would have of my old life when I would shift into my new one.

I needed a small nap. I gave a longing look to my bed as I asked L, "Would you mind if I took a nap, L?"

He took a seat on my favorite reading chair near the window. He sat in his usual odd position and watched me silently. I took my long hair out of its tight pony tail and ran my hands through my hair a few times. I took his silence as the message that he didn't mind me napping, so I took off my shoes and crawled onto my bed. Just when I was about to snuggle my head into my soft pillow, he spoke up.

His voice was soft and oddly teasing as he asked, "And what if I did mind, Miss Iris?"

I didn't even consider his question for the faintest second and replied back honestly, "Frankly, I wouldn't give a damn."

Then, I somewhat thoughtfully added, well as thoughtfully as someone drowsy with sleep could, "But, you are welcome to take a nap as well. Just take a pillow from the bed and make yourself comfortable on the couch."

I sighed contentedly as I sunk my head into my soft pillow. My eyes were almost closed, but I kept my eyes on his pale figure. He looked so out of place in my room and on my reading chair. Sleep was slowly calling me, but the sight of L kept my mind awake. Barely awake.

I knew I was blinking drowsily. My eye lids feeling heavier each time I blinked. I heard his smooth voice floating right into my ear, "But L is not tired Miss Iris."

I frowned irritably; he was talking in that odd manner again. I mentally scoffed at him and told myself to argue with him on that when I wasn't so tired. I mumbled as a tiny yawn escaped my lips, "But Miss Iris is very tired, L"

Even with my eyes closed I could picture his dark eyes, those haunting dark eyes. I could see that messy mop of black hair and that quirky smile on those thin lips. His voice was low, smooth, dark and just as lulling as it was before in that very room, but I couldn't help but detect that odd tone of cheerfulness added to it.

"Then Miss Iris should sleep. L will be here to wake her up later."

And just as I let sleep take me away from him and the conscious world, I recognized another tone in his voice. He sounded content.

One would expect wild, disturbing and extremely frustrating and frightening dreams after such a stressful day. But miraculously, I slept like a log. No dreams, no nothing. I just slept and woke up feeling quite energized. That nap was much needed.

I smiled and snuggled my face further into my pillow and started stretching out. If I slept well, that was how I always woke up. Happy, smiling, snuggling with my pillow and stretching like a lazy cat.

I stretched out my body as much as I could and sighed blissfully each time I heard a distinct pop from my joints. That one low pop from my lower back as I turned around to get up made me moan loudly. As disgusting as it may sound to certain people but, there really was nothing as good as stretching out one's body after a great sleep, especially the feeling of popping those joints.

You know that feeling when you are flying really high and somebody grabs you by your ankle and yanks you right down hard and fast on the unforgiving ground. Well, metaphorically, do you know that feeling? Yes, well that was what I had experienced next.

I was enjoying the warmth and comfort of my bed; it was then in my appreciative mid-moan that I heard it. A very sharp breath that someone took. And the same someone was in my bed and the cool rush of air that hit my face was undeniably mint flavored. And it hit me right then that L was in bed with me. I froze and opened my eyes in shock. I didn't need a mirror to know that my face looked completely horrified then.

I yelped really loud and pushed that pest of a spirit away from me. I took sadistic pleasure in the fact that I had pushed him so hard that he was flat on his ass on my bed. And I hoped that it rattled his brain against that thick skull of his.

The man was a huge pervert if nothing else. His face was right there in my face. He was leaning over me and he was watching me sleep. Why wouldn't I panic and throw him off; his nose was brushing against mine. I shuddered at his perverse stalker-y ways. I felt so violated, as I stood there fuming.

And I would be lying if I said that I found having waking up to two coal black eyes inches away from mine not frightening. It was unfamiliar and most certainly uncomfortable. It was one thing to sit at a distance and watch me sleep. It was one thing to keep me safe while I was sleeping. But it was completely another thing to be in my bed and practically breathe on my face whilst I was sleeping in said bed. It was just wrong.

It took all of my self-restraint to not jump back on that bed and strangle the panda-man by his throat. I knew I would take utmost sadistic pleasure in that particular activity. I started reciting the English alphabets backwards in my mind to calm myself. I had calmed down considerably by the time I had reached J.

My voice was surprisingly very similar to Victor's cold tone when I asked L, "What exactly were you doing in my bed, L?"

That damned thumb was back to his lips as he answered innocently, "L was merely watching Miss Iris sleep."

He had this look on his face as if it was I who was acting strange. As if it was I who was in his bed while he slept. I swallowed down the intense urge to scream at him and as calmly as I could, asked him, "Was I snoring, L?"

He blinked like an owl and answered almost innocently, "No, Miss Iris."

"Did I seem to be having awful dreams, L?"

"No, Miss Iris."

"Was I thrashing about in my bed, L?"

"No, Miss Iris."

"Was I talking in my sleep or crying, L?"

"No, Miss Iris."

"Was there something in my bed that might have harmed me, L?"

"No, Miss Iris."

I had to fight extremely hard to not grit my teeth and had to remember all those times Gilbert had told me about how one must have complete reign over one's temper. And once again, as impassionately as I could, I asked him, "Then, may I ask, why exactly were you watching me sleep, L?"

I swear the bastard lived to test my sanity. He looked, and I don't know how he did it, even more innocent than before as he replied sweetly, "Yes, you may, Miss Iris."

I think I should have been rewarded with some kind of award for being that calm at that precise moment. I wondered briefly if I should beg him to not irritate me that much. God, if he continued to grate on my nerves that much, it would be hell working with him. For a second, I wanted to go find a comfortable chair, sit in it, curl up to myself and whine over how much of an ass L was.

And then I realized something. L was always going to be an ass because that was just who he was, an ass. He wasn't going to change, not unless he wanted to and I shouldn't want to change him. I should just deal with him just as he was.

Besides, he had more than enough reasons to be an ass to me. And it was really stupid of me to expect him to be anything else than that. I looked into those dark eyes of his. He was a spirit and from what little I knew of him, he was a man who was somewhat different from most men. My grandmother had clearly implied before that he was special as a human, in his past life. And now he was a supernatural being. Why should I expect him to be easy to get along with and easy to manipulate. It was very naïve of me to think like that.

L was very different and for better or for worse he was chosen to be my protector. He was unpredictable and manipulative and controlling and at times I found him impossibly intolerable, but despite all of that I was stuck with him for a long, long time. And it was about time I got used to him and all the strangeness he brought with him. After all, as I had found out that very morning, the world I lived in had far stranger things than what L was. And most of those strange things, it seemed were hell bent on harming me and it was L who swore to protect me from them.

I closed my eyes real tight and thought of all those people who were as strange as him if not more. The first image that flashed before my eyes was of my grandmother. She was eccentric, controlling and mad. I used to think she was some wanna-be witch or something. She was also the owner of one of the most successful businesses in the world. Sometimes I even thought that all the ghosts in the house and the moving portraits went to her head and made her think that she was a witch. But no, she wasn't even a witch, she was more than that. She was a very strong supernatural that ruled over quite a number of other supernaturals. She was a batty old woman who would fiercely love me and protect me, even if doing that meant pushing me away and sending me as far away from her as possible. And most of the time her scheming ways and her so-called good intentions got me in the most complicated of situations but I knew that she loved me.

Then I saw Gilbert and Victor. Gilbert for all his gentle ways and caring nature was an assassin and spy who was a half-succubus-half-elf. Gilbert was practically my nanny; and having an assassin for a nanny was the strangest thing on the planet. And don't even get me started on the part about him being part succubus. Or did him being a male make him an incubus?

Victor for all his fierce attitude and raging temper was actually a demon who was bound to my grandmother and was practically a gun to do my grandmother's bidding. Victor was the most aggressive person I knew. Well, he wasn't always aggressive, but he was someone who could make your knees shake with just a look of his eyes. And Victor was also the same person who read me my bedtime stories and hummed me lullabies when I couldn't sleep at nights. The man couldn't sing to save his life. He was also the one who would draw and color with me when I was little. And let me tell you, a fearsome big bad demon and a 'demon' in the boardroom he might be, but an artist he was not. At all. That man could make a complete arse out of himself just to make me giggle. That was how strange my Victor and Gilbert were.

Then there were so many, many others. My paintings, the statues, the roaming ghosts and spirits, the people who worked for my grandmother, who or what wasn't strange. Every single one of them was strange and had even stranger quirks and I had grown up accepting them and working with them. So, like I accepted them, I could accept L too.

Now the question was, could I or could I not tolerate his little problem about invading my personal space?

I opened my eyes and looked at the barmy spirit before me. And for a second I forgot to breathe. He once again had that hypnotic thing going on. He was staring at me with dark eyes and I swear, the air around me felt heavier and warmer. His voice was that smooth, velvety, dark voice again as he asked me, "What are you thinking about, Miss Iris?"

I felt my body shiver at the sound of his voice. And once again, I could feel myself falling into that familiar trance induced by that voice of his. And it was precisely that what saved me. The knowledge that I was falling back into the trap. That realization made me force myself out of it just as easily I had fallen in. All I had to do was concentrate on anything other than L's voice and his presence. Whatever that he did intentionally or unintentionally, was just making me focus on him and on him only. So I did the complete opposite. I unfocused myself when it came to him.

As soon as I had utter control over myself, I smirked at him and didn't bother replying to his question. To my amazement he didn't even notice what he just did. He was looking at me, expecting an answer. So, I asked him back my original question, "Why were you watching me sleep?"

That intensity of his eyes didn't leave or diminish even a little; if possible I think it increased a little. His voice was smooth and confident as he replied, "I prefer watching Miss Iris as much as I can and I will continue to do so in the future."

That was most definitely an odd answer. For a second there I thought there might be some other supernatural reason or something that made him want to watch me sleep. I mean, who watches someone sleep for a few hours? So I asked, "And is there any specific reason as to why you prefer watching me sleep, L?"

"I am your protector, Miss Iris. I will stay by your side and protect you, always. And that also entitles the time when you sleep."

I gave him my darkest smile at that answer. He was twisting his words around the point I was trying to make. So, I bluntly told him, "No, you were watching me sleep and that too while you were in my bed. You didn't need to go that far to protect me. You could have sat in your previous seat by the window and kept me safe."

His response was very quick, "I can also protect you while I sit in your bed and watch you sleep, Miss Iris."

I glared at him furiously and asked him, "Do you not understand the concept of personal space, L?"

His reply, quite frankly stunned me, "Of course, I understand the concept of personal space. I just avoid it when it comes to you, Miss Iris. Because I put your safety above that of that stupid concept. Not that I will not respect your privacy when I know you need it. I will not accompany you when you need to bathe or change your clothes or do anything in the washroom."

God, how I wanted to punch him when he used that matter-of-fact voice and that self-righteousness that dripped from his voice made me sick to my stomach. He was giving me orders and actually trying to get back the control from me.

I snapped at him heatedly, "L, you sound more like a stalker than a protector. And what makes you even think I will let you do something that makes me uncomfortable?"

I really had expected him to argue with me on the fact that I had called him a stalker. But he didn't. In fact for a whole second or two, he gave me a slow smile; those pale lips of his stretched into a cat-like grin. And he asked, "And why would L being in your bed make you feel uncomfortable, Miss Iris? After all, L did not even touch Miss Iris. Or is it that the thought of L touching Miss Iris in her bed makes her feel all kinds of emotions she cannot identify?"

I think I hissed at him venomously at that point; hell, I wished I was Medusa at that point, with all those venomous snakes at my command, "The thought of having a pervert like you in bed would make any sane woman worry for herself. And yes the thought of you touching me while I am asleep does make me feel all kinds of emotions. Emotions I had never felt before for anyone, ever. But, they are emotions which I can identify though. Emotions like disgust, anger, rage and repulsion."

And while I continued my rather enraged speech, he was smirking at me. Which of course, made me only angrier, "And heavens forbid, if you do touch me inappropriately whilst I am sleeping or not, L. Because I will find the longest nail made by man and hammer it up one of your nostrils until it punctures your brain."

I can't even begin to tell you about the sudden waves of satisfaction and sadistic pleasure that rushed all over me, when I saw L's face get that horrified and that look of complete fear. It was a bloody miracle that I didn't break down and started cackling like a mad witch. I was pretty sure by the way he was staring at me with panic in his eyes, he was imagining me chasing after him with a huge hammer and a really long nail in my hands.

Have you ever seen or for that matter heard a little puppy dog whimper after someone kicked it very hard? Well, I know it is something very horrible of me to ask and even more horrible of you to think about, but that was exactly how L reacted. His huge owlish eyes glazed with slight moisture and he bit his lower lip as it trembled ever so lightly and he let out the most pathetic whimper I have ever heard in my entire existence. And the next thing he did?

He wailed. That's right; he wailed out, "Miss Iris is so mean to poor L. Why is Miss Iris so mean to L? When L likes Miss Iris so very much."

I think I was watching him with horrified fascination at that point. And no can blame me for that, after all I had never seen a grown man cry and wail like a child before. I swore that I would so hit him with the nearest item I could get my hands on if he broke into tears. But thank the gods above that he didn't. Break into tears, that is. But he did pout at me and did childishly proclaim, "Miss Iris might be as mean as she wants to be with L. But L will always like Miss Iris a lot and will watch Miss Iris sleep."

I rolled my eyes at him and was about to open my mouth to tell him to stop acting loony, but he switched on that dark voice of his on again. His voice was a dark whisper, "I find Miss Iris so very beautiful. So I cannot help but watch her."

I could feel all that blood rushing up to my face and I knew my face was glowing bright red. I clutched on the nearest pillow I could find and jumped back onto the bed. I repeatedly hit the loon with as much force as I could while he let out little yelps every now and then. Of course his yelps only made me angrier and I hit him even more.

It was a well established fact by then that L lived to tease me and annoy me. He enjoyed making things difficult for me by acting like a complete jerk. At least he was being courteous by letting me hit him with that pillow and release all the frustrations he created in me. He didn't move away from me at all. And so I took advantage of that. I did not stop hitting him for quiet a while. And just when I was entertaining the thought of stopping (not because I thought he had enough, but because I was getting a bit tired and his yelps started sounding fake), Gilbert knocked on my door.

Now, how do I know it was Gilbert? See, he always knocked thrice on my door. These three sharp knocks on the door; that was the code for him. Victor always called from the outside of my room, he never knocked nor did he barge in. My Grandmamma never knocked either, she barged right in. But her barging had more dramatic flare to it. Jill knocked once and would always coo my name and keep at it until I answered or I asked her to come in.

Without a thought I invited him in, "Come in, Gilbert!"

Gilbert entered the room and stood quietly as he closed the door behind him. I expected him to say why he was there; like he always did every time he entered my room. I felt a small dose of confusion as only silence met my ears as I was getting up from my bed. So I decided to ask him, unfortunately my voice died right in my throat as I took one good look at Gilbert.

He was glaring menacingly at L and his mouth was pinched into a frown that told me that Gilbert was absolutely seething. I started panicking, well on the inside. I knew that I had to do something really fast before Gilbert decided to jump and start doing god knows what to L.

Of course Gilbert would be mad; he had every right to be mad. He just found L in my bed and knowing about L's rather perverse habit of teasing me with inappropriate comments, he was right to assume L did something inappropriate to me. His assumption was right though, but I wasn't going to inform him of that. Entirely for L's well-being, of course. See, I could be kind when I wanted to be, especially to someone like L.

But the thing was I didn't exactly know how to respond to Gilbert's all consuming rage about finding a man in my bed. Because the truth was that I never ever had a man in my bed ever, let alone Gilbert finding said man in my bed. But I knew how overly protective Gilbert was about me, especially when it came to other men.

I acted quick and smiled brightly and exclaimed loudly, "It's good to see you, Gilbert. I had a nice nap. I hope you have something for me, Gilbert."

And just like that Gilbert's sharp green eyes slid onto me and all that boiling rage slowly left him. He gave me a small smile and replied monotonously, "Yes, Little Miss. I do have something for you."

I smiled warmly at him and walked over slowly to my reading chair. Gilbert had turned on more lights in the room. I could see from the window beside my chair, the sun had just set; the slight pink and even lighter orange fading into the deep lavender and navy blue of the night.

Just before I was going to take a seat, Gilbert appeared right beside me. That's right, he appeared, as in he disappeared from where he was standing and just appeared out of nowhere right beside me. I felt this slight whoosh of air hit me when he appeared and for some reason my mind told me that he had moved. He had moved, just very fast. So fast, in fact that my eyes were unable to keep up with him. I swallowed that large lump that suddenly appeared in my throat.

His sudden burst of speed unnerved me but it didn't surprise me amazingly enough. I remembered how as a child I would always refer to him as Superman because of how fast he finished all of his work and still make time for me. Or how he always appeared out of nowhere at my side when I needed him. So why should it surprise me when he did it this time right in front of my eyes. He gave me proof of his ability.

Embarrassingly enough I felt a slight sting of tears in my eyes when I abruptly let myself fall into my seat and looked pitifully up at him. He was taken aback after seeing my expression. His mouth fell open and his eyes behind those glasses looked so pained. Never had I seen those green eyes so pained. I was surprised to see his hand shake ever so slightly as he reached for me. He placed his hand on my cheek, cupping it lightly. As if he was scared that he might hurt me. As if I was that fragile or as if his touch would frighten me. As if that could ever happen, he was my Gilbert. The sky was blue, tigers had stripes, my Gilbert could never harm me and I would never be frightened of my Gilbert. That was just that.

His voice was slightly husky as he whispered, "I am very sorry for startling you so, Little Miss. Please forgive me."

I pushed my cheek adoringly into his hand and smiled brightly at him as I replied, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Gilbert. I always knew you were my Superman."

And with that everything was alright once more. Gilbert smiled at me and dropped his hand away from my cheek as he stood up straighter and handed me what was a laptop. A sleek, ultra-thin, glossy black laptop was offered to me. And I took it and turned it on. With it on my lap, I asked Gilbert, "What do you have for me, Gilbert?"

Gilbert was silent for a few seconds. I looked at him to find him obviously thinking over something and then he finally asked me confidently, "May I be permitted to speak freely, Madam?"

Immediately, I understood what he meant when he used that particular title of mine. He wanted to speak to me as the Head of my house and him a mere member of my house. I was to drop all my attachments as he was going to drop his. I let that familiar cold detached aura surround myself. Just like I had steeled myself in the kitchen that afternoon, I did it once again.

My voice was cold and in the back of my mind I idly thought that I sounded a little like my grandmother as I replied, "You may, Gilbert."

Gilbert replied in a way that all of a sudden made me think that he had done this numerous times before. He looked like a robot as well as sounded like one as he sprouted out what he had to say to me, "Madam, all the information that you had asked me to gather for you is on that laptop. All of it has been sorted into separate files and there is more that will be presented to you by me within the next few days."

I was browsing through the files on the laptop. Gilbert always did do his work efficiently and the files were very detailed and everything was just as I had wanted it. It was a lot of information and I didn't even know exactly where to begin with but I did know that I had to get all of this sorted out before I left for my new residence. From the corner of my eye I noticed L making his way over towards me. I barely held back the snort at that. As soon as the word 'information' came out of Gilbert's mouth I knew L was going to drop his loony-perverted act and get all serious.

I took a quick look at him. He took his seat in front of me. Yes, he was crouching again and most interestingly he was staring at the laptop that was situated in my lap. I smirked at the intensely longing look he was giving my laptop. As if staring at it like that would give him all the knowledge that piece of technology held within it. Then again, the way his long spidery fingers were tapping and itching against the fabric of his faded blue fabric of his pants, maybe he was really into computers and gadgets. I knew for a fact Gilbert was really into computers, whenever he saw one he just had to go through it or check it out. So, if L had worked closely with computers, it would only be natural for him to want to get his hands on my laptop.

But his staring contest with my laptop didn't last very long. Soon enough his thumb was back at his mouth and his cool gray eyes were staring right back at my brown ones. I held his gaze steadily. I really wanted to see how he would react to this entire scenario and also there was a part of me that wanted to see my own reaction to his reaction. I wanted to see how I would deal with him.

My voice was crisp when I asked Gilbert, "I thought you had said that you would have everything ready for me by the time I woke up, Gilbert. Why do I not have all of it now and why am I waiting for it?"

His answer was soft and almost apologetic, "My apologies, Madame. I was only referring to the list of candidates for your house and the list of members for your team. All other information has been obtained for you and filed out."

I shot Gilbert a quick pleased smile as I started looking through the files again. I wanted to start on myself first. I wanted to know more about my family, my heritage and my bloodline first. I wanted to know what my grandmother was; what my parents were; what Gilbert and Victor were; and what exactly we all were capable of. But to even begin to understand all of that I needed to understand certain important details about the supernatural world. And as weird as it sounded, I needed to understand magic.

Even though I had my fair experiences with ghosts and talking portraits and moving statues, I still was having quite a hard time to believe the fact that my grandmother, Victor, Gilbert or even I were capable of doing things that weren't normal. It was so hard to believe that there were supernatural creatures in the world and even harder to believe that my family consisted of those creatures. Hell, even I was one; although I didn't exactly know what I was. To say that all of this was overwhelming would be the understatement of the year.

My finger hovered on the mouse pad of the laptop and there was this nervous twitch in my hand that was barely noticeable but I knew it was there. I couldn't decide if I wanted to open the file named 'The Ravenhart Family Tree' I knew that if I opened that file I would soon find out what my grandmother was and what my parents were and of course what I was. My heart thudded too loud and my stomach left like lead filled it. I wasn't ready to read it just yet.

I could have asked Gilbert to just tell me what I wanted to know. And I knew he would do it too, but that would be taking the easy way out. And that just didn't sit too well with me despite what my cowardly side said. I needed to face all these facts on my own. I needed to face my history and my heritage by myself if I was to accept it. So I let it go for a bit; deciding that I would go through all those files when I was alone later that night.

I was clicking through the files and wasn't the least bit surprised to notice that there were many files linking to Ravenhart Pharmaceuticals and Technologies. It was that Ravenhart Pharmaceuticals and Technologies was a heavy part of all of this. It explained the financing of all these houses and the company would be a nice cover to employ plenty of supernatural creatures. This certainly explained a lot.

I sighed and then told Gilbert, "I need you to come to me tonight after you are done with all your work for today, Gilbert. I need to you to help me study these files."

His answer was unsurprising, "As you wish, Madame."

There was a moment's silence before he continued, "There is something else that I need to inform you of, Madame?"

I raised an eyebrow and waited for his answer. He looked happy for some reason. Even had a little smile gracing his lips and his eyes literally looked a decade younger as he replied, "I have been relieved of my duties in this house by Lady Ravenhart. As of this afternoon I am free to serve my next master without any other obligations. And that master being you, Little Miss."

Him referring to me as master bothered me. It always bothered me since I was a child, but no matter how many times I had our legendary arguments over him to just forget calling me that, he never stopped. Then again, why am I calling those moments' arguments? He didn't argue back at all. I nagged and he stayed quiet and held his ground. It is very difficult debating with a man whose lips were sealed tight and eyes met the ground. In the end I grew tired and strategically retreated for that moment and came back later on with underhanded tactics. I threatened him with not eating, or talking to him or not doing my homework. But he came up with worse tactics. The time I threatened not to eat anything, he baked brownies and when he saw that I wasn't giving up, he informed me that he wouldn't eat anything either until I ate something.

The time I threatened to not talk to him, he went ahead and had a huge fight with Victor. And when I say a fight I mean a hand to hand combat. Apparently they were sparring and Gilbert lost on purpose talking a lot of hits from Victor. He got hit so bad that I forgot everything else and was by his side immediately crying and scolding him for not taking care of himself.

And the time I threatened to not do my homework, he sat down in front of me and started doing my homework. And on my defense I just couldn't sit and see someone else do my work and give me credit for it later on. So I jumped up and snatched my homework from him and did it grumbling about how unfair he was.

I asked him something that had been bothering me for quite some time, "Gilbert, are you happy leaving behind this house? After all, you had been working in this house for years."

I was almost scared to look at his face. I knew I had to if I wanted to know the truth. Gilbert's eyes always told the truth even if his tongue didn't. It would be completely selfish but I didn't want to see the hesitation he would have in his eyes about leaving this house. But I needed to look at his face to have my answer. And like always Gilbert didn't play fair.

The moment I looked up at his face, I was stumped. He had the most beautiful smile on his face and I thought that no normal human could be that beautiful. He definitely was of elfish and succubae descendant. He looked at me as if I was the most precious thing in the whole wide world. His green eyes sparkled and suddenly I had to blink back the tears I felt gathering in my eyes.

His voice was so soft as he said, "I am hurt that you would ask me such a question, Little Miss."

I swallowed down the huge lump in my throat and replied huskily, "I have to know, Gilbert."

He reached down and brushed my hair and said, "I may have been employed by your grandmother, but I always followed you. In fact, your grandmother had no power over me since I was your mother's comrade and later after her death I chose to follow you. It has always been about you, Little Miss."

I didn't know what to say to that. And I didn't trust myself to say anything in that situation; god knew how I'd bawl my eyes out if I said anything. He continued though, "Your mother was like my older sister and hence, you are my beloved niece, Little Miss."

I sniffled out a laugh and replied cheekily, "That explains why you always hated sharing me with Victor."

He smirked a smug little smirk and replied, "Yes and I always knew I was your favorite and I told him so, so many many times, Little Miss."

I snorted and replied, "I never said that, Gilbert. I love you both."

He replied nonchalantly, "Of course, you love us both, but I am your favorite and you need not say it, Little Miss."

I poked him playfully, "You just love picking on Victor. Then again I shouldn't just tell you that. Victor loves picking on you too. It's this weird bond you two have."

He replied politely, "Indeed, Little Miss."

I smiled and looked down at the laptop. Even though I didn't look, I knew that stupid spirit was staring at me. I didn't like sharing my bonding moment with Gilbert with L. It felt a little intrusive. I don't know, maybe it was wrong of me to think that. After all, poor L had nowhere to go and maybe I was just a little too much used to my privacy. And regardless of my feelings, I had to grow more used to L's presence. He was going to stay for a long, long time.

For a person, I was telling myself to accept, I didn't know a thing about said person other than his age and his intense liking for all things sweet. I looked at him and found him staring right back at me. He was watching me with a curious smile on his face. I really didn't know a thing about L.

I held L's gaze as I asked Gilbert, "Anything on L and that Light Yagami fellow?"

And as those words had barely escaped my lips, it was as if a dark shade fell over L's face. His eyes hardened and glared at me with the intensity of the hottest of fires and those thin lips of his tightened into a narrow line. He was looking at me as if I was a disgusting bug that needed to be squashed underneath his shoe. But, for some reason I felt very brave at that moment and his glare wasn't doing anything to intimidate me at all. If anything, I wanted to giggle at him and then dig out every one of his secrets.

Gilbert seemed to agree with that particular intention of mine. He sounded especially smug and downright gleeful as he replied, "Madame, now that particular task was quite difficult to complete."

I knew what was coming as he took a moment to pause. To build up the suspense and as well as enjoy the look of irritation flash across the panda-man's face. I had this mental image of Gilbert cackling like a wretched old witch. And I know it was mean of me, but I couldn't resist, so I played a long. After all, L did have his fair share of teasing me and well, I wanted my share too.

"Was it a very difficult task, Gilbert?"

"Oh, indeed it was, Madame. Master L here, has led a life that even more secretive than our supernatural society. It would be nearly impossible to find information about him by humanly means. But, for a creature such as myself and with contacts, the task was manageable. Difficult, but manageable."

I had expected L to look enraged, but the look on his face still surprised me. His jaw was tightened and his lips pressed tight. That showed his anger and frustration. But the look of fierce pride in his smoldering black eyes completely threw me off for a second. I smiled at that. He was actually proud of the fact that his secrets were that greatly kept. Sure, he was pissed at Gilbert for uncovering it now, but he was still taking it as a backhanded compliment that it was humanly impossible to find out his secrets.

There was Gilbert gloating for doing something against L and well, something that pleased me. And on the other hand there was L who was a whole mix of emotions and still a mystery to me. An annoyingly complex mystery. And I was right between them, feeling both irritated and terribly amused at the same time.

"Now what could it be about L's life that would be needed to be kept that secretive, Gilbert? Do tell me, I am awfully curious."

"Madame, Master L's secret is his life. His name, his face and his job. Those are his very secrets."

Okay by then I was getting a little bit impatient. And peevishly curious. Just what was L and what the hell was Gilbert going on about. But before I could demand that Gilbert just tell me what he was talking about, L finally lost his patience. And it was him who demanded in a surprisingly stern voice, "Mr. Red-hair, what of the request I made? What of Light Yagami?"

Gilbert shot him a rather devious smirk. A smirk that told me there was so much more than to what he was going to say, "Light Yagami died on January 28th, 2010."

What I expected was to see the relief in L's eyes at the mention of a supposed danger to us dying, but what he looked was well unconvinced. He asked again, "Was his death confirmed?"

Gilbert's reply was very pointed which frankly confused me a little, "Light Yagami died of cardiac arrest and his body was found and buried. So yes, Master L, his death is confirmed."

He still didn't show his relief or any emotion for that matter. Because after that very moment, L had closed up tighter than Fort Knox. He nodded his head slightly at Gilbert and went over to my window, staring into nothing.

I looked at him and for a few seconds I didn't know what to say to L or if I needed to comfort him. But I did wonder, did he lose a friend or a foe?

I looked back at Gilbert and motioned him to take a seat. It was after he sat down comfortably did I ask, "So, to know the whole story who do I need to know about first? Light Yagami or L?"

"Madame, L's and Light Yagami's lives are entwined with each other. Especially when it comes to this story. So, whichever you choose, in the end you find out about both."

"Who is L?"

"L was the greatest detective in the world once upon a time, Madame and Light Yagami was the one who murdered L."

The last part of that statement did not surprise me much. I was somewhat expecting it, but the first part did shock me beyond belief. My barmy perverted panda-spirit-man was a detective and that too the greatest there was once upon a time?

What was going on? I was completely confused, "Tell me everything from the beginning and about L, Gilbert."

"Madame, L was born on the 31st of October, 1979 and he was an orphan and was raised in an orphanage in Winchester named Wammy's House. L was exceptionally gifted and was perhaps the most intelligent man in the world. It was his choice to become a detective and he has in his life solved numerous hard-to-crack cases all over the world. It was also his choice to not reveal his face or name to the world. His only connection to the world was through his handler code-named 'Watari'. In fact, L isn't even his real name, Madame."

My mind was swamped with the information I was getting. I was literally building a whole new image of L. My reaction was a sharp look at L's back and an even sharper, "It isn't?"

Gilbert shook his head lightly and answered, "No, Madame. L is the alphabet he chose to be his symbol to be referred by the world. L isn't his name. L is the title given to whoever was the greatest detective alive in the world. Master L here is the one who created the title."

It was then when something clicked in my brain. Something I had read about somewhere and not paid much attention to. L was the name of some detective who had solved some serial killer case not too long ago. Last year, it was in fact.

"So, the serial case solved by L last year was…"

My voice was a faint whisper and my statement didn't need to be completed. But Gilbert did so nonetheless. For whom, L or me was the unanswered question.

"The detective you speak of, Madame is the greatest detective in the world and he is the third L so far."

My reply to that was, "Then who is my L?"

Gilbert's voice carried just a hint of sorrow in it as well as a little admiration, "Madame, the choice that Master L made years ago to keep his name and face a solid secret was what had prolonged his life. Master L had many aliases though. Ryuuzaki, Hideki Ryuuga, Eraldo Coil and Deneuve are just a few of his aliases, but they are the most important ones."

Eraldo Coil, Hideki Ryuuga and Deneuve kind of were poking at me for some reason. Where did I hear those names before? So I asked, "Gilbert, why are the all those names except Ryuuzaki so familiar?"

Gilbert's answer was short and very precise, "Eraldo Coil and Deneuve are the names of the second and third greatest detectives in the world. They were identities created by Master L and he maintained them and used them as he saw fit. Hideki Ryuuga is the name of the Japanese pop singer who married the daughter of the owner of Glens Technology and died of a drug overdose two years ago. Master L used the name Hideki Ryuuga as because it used to be a very popular name some years ago."

Suddenly, it made sense as to why it was L who was chosen to be my spirit guardian. Also L's famous plan of changing my name and starting a detective team made so much more sense now. Everything from his calculative looks, to his desire to use me as a puppet and his abnormal need for secrecy was making sense.

Gilbert continued, "Master L, like Lady Ravenhart had mentioned, Madame, was a special human. He had special powers and he had spiritual awareness. It is almost always the case that supernatural creatures or objects are either drawn to such special humans or the special humans are drawn to the creatures or objects. In Master L's case, he was the one drawn to a case. A case of a serial killer who killed his victims through a supernatural object, although it was much later that Master L confirmed that the killer killed with a supernatural object. So, one could say, Madame that it was the object itself which called onto Master L."

I was almost horrified at the prospect of knowing that one object could cause that much chaos at the hand of a killer and cause the death of a man who earned the title of the greatest detective in the world. A very small part of me mourned the death of L or whatever his real name was.

Then it hit me, I still didn't know L's real name. And here I was planning out a life and a foreseeable future with him in it. So I asked Gilbert and this time with a lot of conviction, "Gilbert, what is my L's real name and what is this object you speak of?"

"Madame, Master L's real name is L Lawliet and the object that I speak of is a notebook carried by creatures called Shinigami or Death Gods."

L Lawliet. That was his name. I turned my gaze towards L, or Lawliet. He had his back towards me and through out the entire conversation, he refused to look at us. Lawliet, the name somehow suited him. It went with his looks, persona and even his job. I wanted to call him Lawliet, but something told me that he would want me to call him L. There was also that possibility that he would pick a new alias since I now knew his secret.

Shinigami. I didn't know what kind of creatures they were, but they were called Death Gods so I hazarded a guess that they specifically dealt with deaths. Handing out deaths, that is. But this notebook business completely confused me. My voice was a little skeptical as I asked, "Notebook?"

"Each Shinigami carry their own notebook and they call their notebook, Death Note."

Death Gods calling their notebooks Death Notes. Can they get any weirder? Couldn't they be a bit more original? Death Notes? Really? And how could a notebook make a serial killer that unbeatable and then kill L?

Gilbert's sharp green eyes met mine and I knew he say the utter look of incredulity on my face. And I was even ready to bet that he knew exactly what I was thinking. He knew me that well. But as a sliver of light flashed a little on his spectacles, I suddenly had this feeling that what he was about to explain would make me feel very uncomfortable if not a little scared.

His voice was soft and yet firm as he explained, "One only needs to know the face and the real name of their victim. Just write the name of the victim on the page of a Death Note. It is that easy to deal death with that notebook. Hence, the name Death Note, Little Miss."


	12. Overdue Explanations and Unknown Truths

Hey! Sorry for the super late update. But here it is now. I hope you enjoy and and please review. Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

It was as if I was suddenly pushed into the Arctic stark naked. I shivered violently for a second and my spine felt rigid. My heart tattooed a fast and rather frantic rhythm against my chest and I knew my mind was working at a faster pace than that. I was panicking.

God, what horrible possibilities! That notebook, if it was really possible to kill people with it, it was one of the most terrifying weapons in the world. It could kill so many people and so easily. No one would be able to catch the killer either.

My entire body shivered rather violently yet again as I finally understood what had killed L. That notebook; somebody wrote his name in it. And L as a detective and the greatest at that was the one who wanted to catch the killer and in the end died. He died because someone wrote his name in a notebook.

I gasped as L's previous words hit me with full force… _Sometimes names are what one needs to completely eliminate one's targets. Names hold great powers, something that you have yet to learn about, Iris Ravenhart. Do not use that power so dismissively. You haven't the faintest idea as to what trouble you might invite your way. _

Damn. This was what he was referring to. He only died because his name was found out by that killer. I felt utterly sad for him for a moment. How unfair was it that such a young albeit barmy man had to die just because he wanted to stop a psychotic serial killer? How unfair was it that he couldn't live longer to even enjoy his life fully just because someone wrote his name in a fucking notebook?

It was a whole fucking lot. Saying that age long phrase that life is unfair, would be a huge understatement in this case.

I didn't exactly have tears in my eyes for L, but my heart ache for him a little. Suddenly, every inch of my body wanted to revolt against the heavy injustice and I didn't know why I felt like that. That was kind of confusing because I never felt that intensely for all the other crimes I have had heard of in the past.

I was scared and panicked over the existence of that notebook and it falling in the wrong hands. And also my mind was screaming at me to do something about it.

My mind was practically whispering to me. One kept on saying how the notebook had already fallen into the wrong hands. There was another that asked me if someone actually was successful in retrieving that notebook and destroying it. Another demanded for me to capture the killer and punish him for his sins and there was another timid whisper that told me to track down the families of the victims and compensate them somehow.

But the loudest whisper was demanding something entirely else from me. _Where were the so-called supernatural law-enforcers when there was such an object wrecking chaos all over the world? And why didn't they stop the killer and why did they sit back and watch L try and fail to capture said killer? Why involve humans at all when the supernatural world was so secretive about its existence? _

By the time these whispers were taking over my entire mind, I had somewhat calmed down. How did I calm down when it seemed like I was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder? Well, I was trying to answer and figure out the reasons behind and to all those whispers. And truthfully I didn't know most of those answers, but what I did know was that Gilbert had all those answers and he would be the one spouting them out.

I asked him the most important question first, "Gilbert, this Death Note, the one used to kill L here, has it been destroyed?"

His answer was short and held a remarkable note of regret in it, "I am afraid not, Madame."

I frowned. That wasn't acceptable. Such a weapon should be kept as far away as possible from hands that might use it. I asked again, "What about the killer? Has he or she been caught and punished accordingly?"

"There were two killers and two Death Notes, Madame. They worked as partners. The first was Yagami Light. He was the dominant partner and he died of cardiac arrest while being apprehended by the authorities. And the second was a woman named Amane Misa and she was Yagami Light's accomplice, fiancé and submissive partner. She is currently residing in an asylum because she is manically depressed and suicidal. They operated under the name 'Kira'. They took turns begin Kira."

So that Light person L wanted to know about was his killer. Then it was clear that Light really was an old powerful enemy and that was why he might have been a danger to both L and I if he were alive. But we didn't need to worry about him any longer. Light Yagami was dead and his accomplice was sealed tight in a loony bin. But what of their Death Notes?

"Gilbert, tell me, where did their Death Notes go then?"

"Madame, there were two Death Notes. One of the Death Notes was obtained by some of our agents a while after the death of Light Yagami. As for the second one, it was taken by the Shinigamis from the Shinigami Realm."

"Tell me about the people this Light person murdered."

"Madame, Yagami Light killed criminals. Murderers, rapists, terrorists, gangsters, in short any person who committed a crime and he had seen their faces and knew their names, he killed using the Death Note. Apparently, Yagami Light wanted to create a new world; an utopia ruled by himself. He had a god-complex and he thought he had the right to judge people. He thought the world was rotten and he was making it a better place."

I processed that thought for a few seconds before replying, "So the people he killed were all criminals?"

"There were also those people who stood in his way that he killed, Madame. For example, there were the FBI agents, police officers, L and most of his team members whom he killed."

I wanted to kill that bastard all over again. Who was he to decide who had the right to live or die? If things actually worked like that there would be no laws or justice system in any country anywhere. There was a very strong voice in my head that kept on saying how dying of cardiac arrest wasn't enough for that bastard. People died because he thought they should in the name of justice. But in the end, what he did was the very opposite of justice. He took justice in his own hands and that only made him the biggest and the most horrifying criminal of all. Fortunately, we didn't need to worry about him anymore.

"Gilbert, where were the supernatural authorities when such a powerful and dangerous supernatural object fell into the hands of a megalomaniac like Yagami? And why didn't they take any attempts at stopping him?"

Gilbert looked quite surprised at that question. In fact, he was down right flustered. His gaze never left the floor and he started to fidget. Gilbert rarely ever got nervous and him dropping his confident posture to fidget with the pristine white gloves on his hands was just an impossible sight. Well, not impossible, improbable.

Oh what Victor wouldn't have given to see the ever so cool Gilbert fidget like that! I know I was being mean but he was testing my patience by not giving out prompt answers.

"Little Miss, I am very sorry to say but, at that time there were other very crucial events that kept the authorities from paying proper attention or making prompt decisions about the Shinigami and the Death Notes."

His voice held heavy tones of regret and shame and even though my heart ached to comfort him and ask him what happened and why he was so affected; I snapped back, "Gilbert, what in hell's name was so damned important that all of you had to let hundreds of people die at the hands of a narcissist bastard? Why the fuck didn't any of you just barge right in, kill him and take the note book?"

Notice how I blamed everything on him. How it went from 'the authorities' to 'you all'? Remember that feeling I was telling you about? About how I was compelled to do something about this situation, about how I needed to correct things? Yes, that same feeling was making me beyond frustrated at 'the authorities' and because Gilbert was a part of them and he knew about all of this I transferred all that anger onto him.

I remember doing this very same thing once back when I was thirteen. I wanted to go out to buy a birthday present for Victor, I wanted it to be a surprise and that was why I did not want any one to go with me. But my grandmamma strictly told me to not go out alone and she even went to the lengths of grounding me. To a thirteen year old, that was the most unfair thing in the world.

I remember yelling, screaming and ranting at poor Gilbert about it. I shifted all of my grandmother's rage at him and went as far as accusing him of keeping me a prisoner; of always robbing me of my freedom. I even told him that it was his fault that I did not have friends of my own age and that I felt different from everyone else. I remember throwing things around my room and how Gilbert stood there taking everything I said and his pained looking green eyes. I cried myself to sleep that night.

It was the next day that I woke up with Gilbert sitting beside my bed looking forlornly at me. I apologized immediately and told him that I loved him and that none of what I accused him of was true. I told him the entire truth. About how I always felt different from all the other people I saw and met. About how I really never wanted to get that close to them and how he was my best friend. I hugged him and cried and apologized over and over again. And all he did was hug me back and tell me that he would do his best to never make me feel that way again.

That entire day we spent every hour together. We had lots of fun, he even helped me plan pranks on my grandmother and together we gave her the silent treatment for half a week. And when my grandmother went out for a dinner party, he snuck me out and together we bought Victor's birthday present. It was a beautiful black leather jacket. We spent about three hours exploring the shopping mall and he ate all kinds of junk food with me that night.

He had later explained to me how there were bad people out there who would try to harm me to get to my family fortune or worse yet just to get back at my grandmother or Victor. That was why my grandmother was so protective about me. He and I agreed that even though my grandmother meant well, she didn't exactly handle the situation the right way and until she tried to make it up to me, we would give her the silent treatment. So we did just that until, my grandmother made it up to me and that involved a movie night, lots of ice-cream and a leather jacket for me that looked almost like Victor's.

But that was the tale of the past and right at that moment I had that exact same feeling washing over me. I was once again angry and the anger I had over 'the authorities' shifted over to Gilbert just because he knew about it.

I was too busy glaring at the thoroughly aghast looking Gilbert to notice L turning around to give us his full attention. I never swore at Gilbert and because I did at that moment, I must have surprised and hurt him a lot. But at that moment I did not care. Because at that moment he wasn't Gilbert, my caretaker and almost parental figure slash best friend. At that moment he was just my employee who had most probably cost the lives of hundreds of humans and at that moment he needed to fear and feel my wrath and provide me with the answers I wanted or find a way to fix the problem I saw.

Gilbert wasn't saying a word though and that only infuriated me further, especially when I noticed L watching us with cold calculative eyes. It was strange but, Gilbert started to glow. That's right; the more horrified Gilbert looked the more his pale skin glowed. His emerald green eyes looked pained and ashamed, but his skin glowed and it was as if his vibrant red hair took shined a little bit more.

I don't know how to describe it but there was a familiar scent of dark chocolate and something earthy floating in the air. It was so thick and heady; and even though it felt a little comforting in the beginning, after a breath or two I wanted it to stop. Suddenly I didn't like that scent any more, it only managed to agitate me more.

I put away my laptop on the table before me with a loud thud and stood up. I noticed L jump out because of the sound and he looked as if he broke out of a trance. He shook his head a few times and gave Gilbert a peculiar look and moved away to stand beside me. But Gilbert kept on staring at me like a scared little kitten. Albeit a glowing scared little kitten.

I couldn't take it anymore and snapped at him, "Well, answer me! L here, died trying to do the job all of you were supposed to do. He and his team and all those other people died trying to stop that bastard Yagami. Where the fuck were the so-called authorities when all these innocent people died trying to clean up their mess?"

I may have been a bit too harsh, but I really didn't notice at that moment. All I was thinking was about all those people who died just because his warped sense of justice. And what was worse was that L and his team were some of those people and now he stood beside me as Gilbert told us that they didn't stop that Yagami bastard because they were too busy with something else. As if all those deaths at that man's hand was of no importance. As if it wasn't worth their attention and thus they didn't bother saving them. Oh how I wanted to just rush to where ever Victor was at the moment and spar with him. I wanted to go at him with all my strength and every little energy in body, just to vent, I suppose.

It was L tugging lightly on the end of my pony-tail that snapped me out of my rage. In fact, it down right calmed me. When I turned my glare at him, I found him blinking owlishly at me. In a tone that was childishly curious he asked me, "My team members and I died years ago, Miss Iris. Why do you care?"

I spluttered for a few seconds. The nerve of the bastard. It was then I started yelling at him, "What do you mean, why do I care? You insufferable idiot, of course I care. You did not die and neither did your people. All of you were killed. Murdered by that bastard with a god-complex."

He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "Murdered, killed, died…In the end it all means the same thing. We ceased to live. And the question still remains, why do you care, Miss Iris?"

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists so hard that I could feel my nails cutting into my palms. I hated how lightly he was taking all of that. I snarled out, "I care because it was not your job to find that bastard and to get that Death Note from him. I care because you died trying to stop him when it wasn't even your responsibility. I care because 'the authorities' turned a blind eye to it all and left all of you to die at that murderer's hands. I care because 'the authorities' did not do their job right. I care because it was unfair for you to die when you didn't even need to die for him to be caught!"

I was fuming and I wasn't done by a long shot, but it was L's peculiar little smile that stopped me. He replied in a smooth and calm voice, "First of all, it was my choice to take up the Kira case. Whether or not 'the authorities' would have stepped in and solved the case, I would have had still taken the case. I would have had still tried my best to solve that very first murder that Light Yagami had committed. I would have had still tried to solve the mysteries behind the Death Note and Shinigamis. Because that is my very nature. So in the end I would always be linked to the Kira case by my own choice no matter how the situation was manipulated; and I would do so because it was a very interesting case. Therefore, it was my job simply because I chose it to be my job."

I huffed at him. I wanted to grip him by his collar and shake him like a rag doll for saying all of that. For choosing the mystery of the Death Note over his own life. He continued, "Secondly, as you said it was 'the authorities' who did not do their job right, so why use such harsh words against your employee when he is but providing you with answers. Why not give your employee time to answer you before you start yelling at him?"

"If there is anyone you should be so enraged at, it should be 'the authorities'. But I would advice to not lose the control over your temper so easily in any situation. It is a sign of weakness and it gives your opponent an advantage. It is better to be calm and rational in such situations."

I definitely wanted to sink my nails into face and scratch up his panda-ish looking face. The bastard. I hated him being right and I hated losing control like that. But he still continued, "And finally, there are many people in the world who die young. In fact, there are people who die younger than I did and it is unfair. It will always be unfair. After all, life is unfair. I have the luxury of knowing I did not die in vain. I know that my death played a part in the capture of Light Yagami. You were not there, Miss Iris, so you would not know what needed or what needed not be done for the capture of Kira. Therefore, you cannot surely say that it was not necessary for me to die."

The stupid man. How could he say that? Was he some kind of martyr? I was just going to snap out a reply when he tugged on the end of my pony-tail again and replied in that familiarly dark and hypnotic voice from before, "Some would say it is unfair for me to get a second chance at life. To live again with a purpose. It is definitely unfair. But, here I am and like they say, life is unfair, Miss Iris."

Okay, that definitely calmed me down. So the bastard was looking at the brighter side of things. I suppose it was okay for him, since Kira was no more, the Death Note was gone and he was resurrected by my grandmother. I couldn't help but pout a little and nod shakily at him. He gave me a small smile and replied, "This time I get to play the powerful bodyguard to the pretty princess."

I blushed lightly at that. I told myself to not snap at him since he did not mean it as a perverted remark and take it as a compliment. But things with L are never ever that easy, he just had to go and spoil things by adding, "My oh my…Miss Iris, your cheeks look like that yummy shade of strawberries. You smell delightfully of vanilla too, Miss Iris."

The perverted bastard ended the sentence with a fucking moan. That deep moan did not help things at all. I was blushing harder than I ever did in my life and so I did what came naturally to me. I took hold of his shirt and told him in a voice that would have scared all the ghosts in the mansion, "One of these days L, I will have a taxidermist make a work of art out of you and display it in the foyer with a plate saying, 'BEWARE PERVERTS!'"

He pouted at me. Perverted bastard. I let him go with a jerk and turned to face Gilbert, who had managed to fix his expression. He just looked a little sad by then; his eyes though were staring holes into the floor. I asked him again and this time I managed to wipe out all of my raging emotions out of my voice and sounded especially monotonous, "Gilbert, why didn't anyone from the Supernatural community do anything about the Kira case and the Death Notes?"

He answered back in a soft and pained voice, "Madame, the Kira case started in the year 2003 and Light Yagami was finally caught and he died in the year 2010. We knew of the Death Notes and of how many people were being killed by him and his accomplice, but that issue was not the main priority of the Supernatural community at that time."

I processed what he had just said. It was then something hit me. I was born in the year 2002 and it was in the beginning of the year 2004 my parents and my grandfather died. That explained a little why my grandmother did not do anything about it in the beginning but why didn't she do something later on. After all, Yagami killed over a period of seven years.

He took in a deep haggard sounding breath and said, "The Supernatural community had a war waging between a few different races of creatures. It was a brutal war and everyone was busy with restoring peace and surviving the war with their loved ones safe. The war started in the year 2000 and was finally over in the year 2005, but it took another ten years for things to go exactly the way they were before. We were too busy rebuilding our lives and the community back to the prosperous way it was."

I felt my throat close up and tears sting at my eyes. I didn't even know what I was accusing Gilbert of, yet I did it and how very wrong I was. Before I could continue wallowing more in guilt, Gilbert threw in more upsetting news, "Madame, your parents and your grandfather died fighting in that very war. They along with many other important members of our community were lost in that war and the community had been trying to go on without them."

"By the year 2006, most of the council members of the King's court decided that the humans were already dealing with Kira on their own and that we should wait and watch at how the humans would deal with Kira on their own. Because people already knew too much about Kira it would be too noticeable if we would make him disappear suddenly. Moreover, there were certain people in the community who agreed with what Kira did, even if the King heavily disapproved of it."

"Lady Ravenhart and many other of the court brought up that topic time and time again and insisted on taking care of it since Death Notes were supernatural properties and it was a destructive human who was taking advantage of it. But, every time she was shot down and after numerous sessions of the court the council finally came upon a decision. We knew of L Lawliet and of his successors. So we kept a very close on Kira and everyone involved in that case. The council decided to give the humans a chance to clean up their own mess."

He finally looked at me with sad green eyes and continued on, "They decided that if L's successor failed in apprehending Kira then and only then we would step in and take care of it. In the end, Near, Mello and Matt, L's three successors managed to apprehend Light Yagami and we didn't have to do anything. Most of the Council members who did follow the Kira case closely, like your grandmother were very impressed by L and his successors. Because Near was the one alive having defeated Yagami Light, he became quite famous in the King's court. Also Yagami Light is more often than not referred to as one of the vilest and most dangerous humans the Court ever seen."

"Then we only needed to replace the Death Note Near had in his possession with a fake and Near burned the fake Death Note to rid the world of such a dangerous object."

It was L who asked Gilbert, "What happened to the real Death Note, Mr. Red-hair man?"

Gilbert replied with a shrug, "It isn't my place to know, but from what I have gathered from certain sources, some members of the council handed over the Death Note to the Shinigami King and they might have convinced the Shinigami King to follow certain rules."

L gave a nod at that and was lost in his thoughts once again and I was left to puzzle over the new facts I had learned from Gilbert. The first being that my grandmother and every one that I knew had once again lied to me. The biggest lies ever. One that my parents hadn't died in an automobile accident and the second being my grandfather hadn't died of a heart attack.

I could understand why they had lied. After all I wasn't told about the Supernatural world for certain reasons, so how could they tell me that my parents and my grandfather had died in a war that waged in the Supernatural community? The lies were far more believable and acceptable than the truth. I was safer that way.

But even though I understood, it didn't change the fact that I was hurt. There was a small part of me that told me that maybe I deserved that hurt. After all I never really cared a lot to find out more about my parents. I was just happy in my own world. I was happy with Gilbert, my grandmother, Victor and the house. I never missed my parents and I always told myself, how can you miss something you haven't ever known?

And again, I was being selfish; I still didn't hurt over my parents. I hurt over the fact that everyone lied to me and probably betrayed the trust I had in them. Then again, I did always blindly trust them.

I thought about it. My parents and my grandfather. My mother's name was Cassandra Arabella Ravenhart. She never did take my father's name after their marriage. I look almost exactly like her; the same black hair and facial features, the same small nose and pouty lips. We even had that same complexion; in all the pictures I had seen of my mother, she looked pale and always blushed a pretty pink.

We had differences too. Like she had a regal air about her, something she got from my grandmother. On the other hand, I did not possess that particular quality. Also my mother was very feminine in her style; always in skirts and dresses. She was beautiful like that. I was more of a tomboy. I stuck to my jeans and t-shirts. She supposedly always styled her hair meticulously in various fashions. I rather disliked my long hair and always kept it up in a pony-tail. The only reason I did keep my hair long was because Gilbert insisted that I kept it like that. He said it was very lady-like. Another difference, my mother had the most beautiful green eyes. I had normal brown eyes. Oh and the biggest difference of all was that my mother was taller and slimmer than I was. She was very lithe and was 5'7 in height. I on the other hand, was 5'2 and was far curvier than her.

I do not know where I got the lack of height from, considering the fact that both my parents were tall. My father, Eric Robert Maxwell was 6'2. I have seen my birth certificate; my parent's decided not to give me my father's last name. I asked my grandmother why once, she told me it was because my parents wanted me to be my grandmother's heir. It was kind of like a tradition, my grandmother never changed her name either and my mother did not take my grandfather's name, so I also had the Ravenhart name over the Maxwell name.

My father looked very handsome. He too had black hair and his was messy and always fell into his warm brown eyes. My eyes, I got them from him. Victor once said I had his stubborn attitude too. That and I was loyal to a fault just like him. He was so tall and broad shouldered and he was in jeans in most of the pictures I saw of him. My preference of denim wear and hand-to-hand combat are some of the things I got from him. His skin was a healthy and glowing tan and how he had that in such dreary weather, I'd never know. But I did wish I had his tan complexion over my own ghostly pale complexion.

He had slight stubble too. He looked a little rough and it worked on him. What wouldn't work on him with his smile? He had the most beautiful smile. It was playfully rakish with a dimple. Victor had once said my father's smile always managed to make my mother blush. He also said that even though I looked very little like my father, but when I smirked suddenly I looked eerily like him.

My grandfather was Maverick Avalon and my grandmother's one true love. He was absolutely beautiful. He had pale blonde hair that was always slicked back and equally pale skin. He was tall and had the same green eyes as my mother. I got my love of books from him. That and the easy way I could always befriend the paintings, statues, spirits and other creatures in the mansion. The necklace I always wore, he gave it to me at my birth.

There were three important people of my life who had died in a war and I didn't know very much about them except how they looked and certain things people commented on. But I suppose, I should be proud of them. They died a very noble death. They died fighting in a war, they were brave people.

I looked up to see Gilbert staring at me. I reached my hand up for him to hold, I desperately wanted to ask him to forgive me. I had as usual jumped to conclusions again and had yelled at him. L was right I could have just given him time to answer. But no, I just had to get over emotional and start yelling at the poor guy. He should be mad at me instead of looking at me apologetically. He didn't do anything wrong.

He took my hand immediately and I apologized, "I am very sorry, Gilbert. I know I hurt you."

He shook his head and told me softly, "You did not hurt me, Little Miss. It was just that when you yelled at me, you sounded and looked just like your mother. Especially so when you used those words. She had a habit of using such horrific language too. I used to tell her time and time again how unladylike that was, but she never seemed to care. It was quite contradictory to her image."

He smiled softly at me and continued, "Please do not apologize for doing what is your duty. It is now your job to care for the welfare of humans and I am quite ashamed to say that at that time I did nothing to help those humans. You had exactly the right kind of reaction, Little Miss."

I shook my head and told him, "Still Gilbert, I shouldn't have been so harsh. I could have just asked you to tell me."

He stepped closer to me and ran his hand through my hair. Just like he did when I was younger and replied back, "Your temper flared a little, Little Miss, and it was completely acceptable for you to yell. I understand you very well and you need not apologize for it. Remember what I have always told you, I will always be here for whatever that you may need. If you need to yell at me, then I will happily stand here and be yelled at."

I swallowed the hard lump that was in my throat and whispered regretfully, "Still…I should learn better to control my temper in such situations."

As soon as I said it, I swiftly sent a glare at L. Just because I admitted what he said didn't mean I liked doing it. I was right; the bastard was blinking owlishly at me. I turned back to see Gilbert smirking at that. Sometimes Gilbert did know me better.

He continued petting my hair and said soothingly, "Yes, Little Miss. I think you control your temper and emotions magnificently in front of people. You only lose control when in front of your loved ones and only in extreme situations. I believe it is healthy to do so. Withholding so much inside you would be disastrous. Like I said, I will always be happy to be there for you. Anytime, any place, Little Miss."

I smiled brightly at that. That was such a Gilbert thing to say. He returned my smile and slowly let me go. I sighed heavily and sat down with my laptop back at my lap. It took me a few minutes to browse through a few more files. I didn't exactly know what to do next, but I did know one thing. I was going to give my grandmother hell for hiding so much from me. Just because I understood didn't mean I had to accept her reasons for not telling me about my parents and my grandfather.

I was going through the list of potential allies and potential enemies for my house and it wasn't surprising at all that I didn't even one of those names. My grandmother and Victor were very careful about keeping me away from all these people. I don't even remember ever meeting any of them or even hearing any of their names at the office. I closed those files immediately; it was hopeless to look through them without knowing more about them and for that I needed Gilbert's perspective on that.

I smirked at Gilbert, "Grandmamma left the dirty work of informing me about my parents and my grandfather to you didn't she?"

He raised an eyebrow at that, "It would seem so, Little Miss."

I gave Gilbert my best catty smirk, "Have you informed my grandmamma about her meeting with me tomorrow?"

"I have, Little Miss."

"Then you know what I will do to my grandmamma at that meeting, Gilbert?"

"Indeed, Little Miss."

"Would you mind in any way, Gilbert?"

Did I mention that Gilbert looks scary when he smirks like that? Well, if I didn't then, he does look scary, very scary.

"Little Miss, I belong to you now and I care not what you do to Lady Ravenhart. She is but my previous employer and your grandmother. As long as it satisfies you and makes you happy, I will help you do anything to her."

I laughed a little at that. It seemed that Gilbert was not entirely above a little retribution. I didn't forget how many times my grandmother had put him in a tight spot with me that day. During brunch and now with my family's past. Moreover Gilbert and I knew there were many more situations like that coming our way.

I was planning how my meeting with my grandmother would go the next day when L spoke up, "Picking on Morganna Ravenhart like that would be petty, Miss Iris."

I replied smoothly, "It might be petty, but it is something she has coming her way. She needs to know her limits."

He nodded his head once and turned his attention towards Gilbert. I was lost again in my task of browsing through the files on my laptop. It must have been about fifteen minutes later that I looked up to ask Gilbert something and noticed something very strange.

L kept on staring at Gilbert in his owlish way as he chewed on his thumb and Gilbert was glaring back at him. Like I said, strange. It was a little amusing so I asked, "Something wrong?"

L nodded his head eagerly and with a triumphed smile he pointed at Gilbert, "I need to ask Mr. Red-hair something."

Gilbert's face slipped into a poker mask while I snorted and nodded my head and corrected him, "His name is Gilbert, L."

L's voice was too cheery when he asked, "Mr. Gilbert, did you know you used you power on Miss Iris and I when she was yelling at you?"

That gave me a little shock. I turned to stare at Gilbert and ask him about, but I found him blushing a bright red. The poor thing spluttered out a response, "Yeh-yes that. Sometimes when I am shocked or surprised my power to glamour slips a little."

I was confused, "Glamour?"

He replied a little bashfully, "Yes, Little Miss. My incubi side gives me the power to dazzle other beings. It mostly enhances their attraction towards me. That is why it is called glamouring. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work on certain people."

L gave a firm shake of his head and commented, "It did not work on Miss Iris and me, but I did notice a change in your appearance and the odd scent suddenly wafting through the air."

I remembered that. I did notice that scent and Gilbert glowing a little, but I didn't feel attracted to him. Not in the least, but that scent was distracting.

"Gilbert, when you unknowingly glamoured L and I, it didn't make me feel attracted to you in the least."

He explained softly, "Little Miss, it is not always about attracting in that sense. It is more about distracting one and compelling one to my wishes. Glamouring essentially ensnares one's senses and lets me do what I wish for him or her to do. I could either seduce them, or soften them enough to get information out of them or just plainly distract them."

Before I could ask him if he had ever glamoured me, he stated, "Glamouring isn't my strongest suit. I can't seduce someone or compel them very well with glamour. But I could do so to humans. Maybe it is because I am only half incubi. If I was a full blooded incubus, I would be very good at it. I wasn't ever able to successfully glamour your grandmother, your mother or you."

I smirked at him, "But you did try?"

He replied with a similar smirk, "I did, Little Miss."

I mused out loud, "During all those fights you had with Victor over me, you tried to glamour me to get me on your side."

He looked surprised as he asked, "How did you know, Little Miss?"

I chuckled, "I always smelled that familiar scent of dark chocolate during those fights."

He replied in a sullen tone, "Yes. That scent. It is different for everyone. That scent changes to a person's tastes to compel them. You smelt the scent of chocolate; your mother used to say it smelt like cigars and old leather; your grandmother says it smells like the ocean and your grandfather's garden. To everyone it's different; it smells like whatever you like."

I frowned, "It sounds very interesting, Gilbert. Why are you upset then?"

He replied with an even more sullen tone, "Nothing, Little Miss. I just remembered how Victor taunted me about how my pathetic charms would never work on you."

I couldn't but laugh at that. Victor did do that and I never understood what he meant until then. Gilbert was pouting by the time I was done laughing. The poor guy, Victor did taunt him a lot.

L though, kept on staring at me. I didn't know if I ever could get used to his staring. I glared at him, "Something you would like to say to me, L?"

He shook his head and answered, "No, Miss Iris. L is satisfied with looking at Miss Iris. L just can't get enough of Miss Iris."

I resisted the urge to slap my forehead. The barmy spirit was back at harassing me and referring to himself in third person. Just when I thought he was being somewhat normal, he was back to his creepy ways. I told myself to ignore him. When I could, that is. But Gilbert didn't resist that urge, he snapped at L, "You should talk to Little Miss with utmost respect and not annoy her the way you do. It is not appropriate for some one of your station."

I sighed. Something told me this was something they would do a lot more in the future. L would anger Gilbert by harassing me and Gilbert would do whatever he could to make L stop. One long never ending cycle it would be. I rested my face against a palm and waited for L response. There it was, "Ah…But Mr. Gilbert, L was just being very honest with his Miss Iris."

I had to applaud Gilbert for keeping his voice even, considering the frown that marred his forehead, "That maybe so, Sir, you still are in no position to talk to Little Miss like that. She is not your Miss Iris and neither is she some normal girl you can agitate to your heart's desire. She is your superior and you should give her the respect her post demands. You should keep your distance from her too."

L giggled in a rather perverse way as he replied, "Mr. Gilbert, you will soon learn that Miss Iris is _mine_. _Mine_ to protect and I may and will refer to her in that manner. Because she is just _that_. _My_ superior, _mine_ to serve. Think about it, I am the only person who doesn't need to keep his distance from her. I am serving her in the way I see fit and she is not complaining. Not really; she knows she can handle it."

L made sense but that didn't mean that he sounded any less insulting. Especially the way he was calling me his. It was quite disturbing; then again it was something I knew I would have to deal with later. It really wasn't that big a deal to me. But to Gilbert it was a very big deal. Gilbert glared venomously at L and L to his credit didn't even look the slightest bit ruffled, in fact he continued on prodding at Gilbert, "I should say Mr. Gilbert, you refer to Miss Iris in a familiar way too. How is that appropriate when she is your superior? I daresay, in the coming days I will become closer to Miss Iris than you ever were or ever will be. After all the closer I am to her, the better a protector I will be to her. Therefore, it is within my right to be familiar to my Miss Iris."

I wanted to argue with L on that, but on some levels he was right. I needed to be on good terms with him if he was to work that closely with me in the future. I was getting somewhat used to his leery ways and his disgusting comments, but Gilbert needed to get used to that too.

Gilbert stared at him with narrowed eyes and lips tightly pressed together. I knew he was fuming which meant he wouldn't argue with L on that but he did not like what L said one bit. I shook my head dejectedly and then asked Gilbert, "What can you tell me about how this Hose system works?"

While he explained, the night went on.

On the other side of the mansion, in a dark room two people kept their eyes fixed on an enchanted mirror. They watched the girl with dark hair react to the words the ex-butler uttered and the spirit interact with the girl.

The transparent woman with long pale hair and glowing green eyes commented amusedly, "Well, she is nothing like you, that's for sure."

The other woman snorted, "She is too much like her father. She gets nothing from me. No matter how much I love her, teach her and influence her, she will always have her father's spirit."

The blonde one glared at her companion and snapped, "Bite your tongue. She is nothing like that beast."

Morganna laughed and looked at the ghost before her. She was tall, slim and willowy. In a long white dress, with her fair hair and skin, she really looked like a ghost. Her transparency as a ghost only added more effect. She replied slyly, "I thought you did not care for how she was. You said you gave up on her. You said she would be a disappointment to you."

The beautiful ghost before her rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, I know what I had said. I said it all in a fit of anger and no matter what I say I cannot help but care for her. Disappointment or not."

Morganna leaned back in her seat and smirked, "That was exactly what I had told you so that day."

The ghost nodded once and stared unblinkingly at the pale girl's image on the mirror and after a while she whispered, "She is acting far better than both of us expected. She looked so much like Cassandra when she yelled at the half-breed."

Morganna whispered back, "Yes, she did. Though don't let her ever hear you call Gilbert that. She will find a way to hurt you, now that she knows about her heritage."

The ghost snapped at Morganna without taking her eyes off the mirror, "You know I don't mean it like that. It's just I don't like how your Grimm and your butler took the place her parents should hold in her heart."

Morganna sighed and said tiredly, "I know. But you must accept the fact that Iris never had her parents with her whilst she was growing up. It was always Victor and Gilbert. So she loves them with all her heart and they love her just as much. They would lay down their lives for her, you know that."

The ghost all but nodded. She watched the newly summoned spirit calm the girl down and smiled a little. She took a look at Morganna who was smiling back mischievously, "The new spirit, he is already very close to her. Don't you think you should tell her about the summoning, Morganna?"

Morganna answered back calmly, "No. That is not even an option at this stage. If they find out now, it will spoil everything. With time they will both find out."

The ghost sighed and replied with a small smile, "Everything will work out. Her compassion, she got from her grandfather."

Morganna smirked, "Which one?"

The ghost snapped back at her, "The dead one."

Morganna nodded and stared off into nothing. The ghost after a while asked mournfully, "How can talk about him like that, Morganna? Doesn't it hurt?"

Morganna smiled sadly and replied softly, "It used to hurt unimaginably in the beginning. But loving her soothed it. I could have been selfish and taken away that necklace to get him back, but I can't risk all of this like that. I couldn't let their sacrifice go in vain. Besides, I am patient. I only need to wait for a few more years before I get him back."

The ghost nodded and stated ominously, "If all goes according to plan then you will be right in assuming that."

Morganna hummed in response. The ghost smirked evilly, "She will give you hell tomorrow, you do know that, don't you? You really shouldn't have left all the explaining to Gilbert."

She sighed, "Yes, I know. I know Iris very well. It something I deserve. She is vindictive like you in that matter."

The ghost sniffed disdainfully and stated, "No, I think she gets that particular trait from you and I both."

Morganna smiled at that. She said somberly, "I will miss her so much. The mansion would feel dead without her."

The ghost nodded, "Yes and you will always worry about her safety."

Morganna asked her softly, "Do you think the Krakens would make any drastic move against her?"

The ghost shook her head and replied, "Those filthy Krakens do not even know about her. She won't have to face them for a long time. But it is about her other enemies I worry about."

Morganna scoffed, "Those bastards don't even know about her. She is safe from them."

The ghost asked gloomily, "Yes, but for how long? There will come a time when they find out about her and she finds out about them. Then how will you protect her?"

Morganna replied stiffly, "When that day comes, we will see. But we know one thing for sure; we are preparing her for that day. Whatever choice she may make, she will always have her family, friends, allies and maybe even a lover at her side."

The ghost nodded and kept on staring at the mirror. She stated softly, "I wish I was a part of her life."

Morganna sighed, "You had your reasons to keep your distance from her."

The ghost shook her head and looked at Morganna, "I might have not made an effort before, but now I can and will."

Morganna asked confusedly, "What do you mean?"

The ghost whispered, "I will go with her. I will join her house."

Morganna was stunned for a second and then she asked her softly, "Are you sure? This has been your home for years. If you join her house, you cannot return unless she takes my place."

The ghost smiled and replied confidently, "She will take your place, Morganna. I have full faith in her. She will not fail."

Morganna beamed at her, "Well then, you may go."

The ghost made a comment that both shocked Morganna and made her laugh, "This mansion might prohibit me from entering after I leave, but that place in the gardens will never close up to me."

Morganna whispered after she was done laughing, "So will you bring me news of her every now and then?"

The ghost raised a pale brow at her, "You will get steady reports about her work, why need me to tell you about her?"

Morganna answered, "Not about her work. Just come by often to tell me how she is."

The ghost sniffed and replied, "My loyalty after I join her will only be to her. But sometimes, when I feel like it and the situation allows me to, I will come to you."

Morganna nodded and whispered, "That will be enough."


	13. Being Mauled and New Beginnings

Hey guys! Really really sorry for the super late update. I have no excuse but the simple fact that life got a bit too busy and I couldn't make time for this. Regardless, I am back with the longest update ever and it has a steamy scene which I hope would make up for being this late. Hopefully, the updates will be regular from now on. Thank you to all those who have been reading this story and please review this story, it would really help me with the writing and the plot and get me motivated. Happy Reading, then! Enjoy...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note...**

**My Protector**

I remember going numerous files and getting many explanations and lectures from Gilbert about my new post. In a way it was invigorating learning about so many new things. New things that I knew nothing about and couldn't have even imagined in my wildest dreams despite knowing about ghosts, animated paintings and moving statues.

I liked finding about my new duties. Every new information Gilbert revealed to me, I found a voice nagging at me about it at the back of my mind. I was adapting and changing myself. I could feel my mindset changing rapidly. I felt myself becoming just a bit more observant, a bit more curious and persistent, more determined and calm, a bit colder and shrewd, I felt responsible and in charge.

It was halfway through the meeting that I had a small realization. I was handling the change so well only because Gilbert, Victor and my Grandmamma prepared me for it. All those discussions, trips to the office and those encounters with the ghosts and paintings; they had trained me little by little. My Grandmamma taught me how to be in charge and be absolutely ruthless when the need came to be. Victor taught me how to keep myself together, to be calm and determined to get what I wanted. Gilbert taught me to blend in with others, to care for others, to notice what was hidden underneath the underneath. They knew that this day would come when I would need all those skills and they tried their best to provide.

That realization comforted me in a way and only fueled my desire to be the best detective the Ravenharts ever had, not to mention defeat the Krakens and take my Grandmamma's place. Gilbert stayed till a few hours before dawn, then he left saying that he had numerous preparations regarding our move to see to.

It was a few hours later that I slipped into a deep sleep right there on the couch with my new laptop. I vaguely noticed a soft hand running through my hair and stroking my cheek. In my sleep laden mind, I had assumed it was Gilbert or better yet, Victor, so I had merely snuggled into the comfort of the warm hand. The same person also carried me off to bed. I had somewhat of a deep nap and by the time I woke up I found a familiarly creepy set of obsidian eyes staring at me intently.

My mind groggily told me that just was the sign that that day would indeed be a long one and not in a pleasant way. L was lying on the unoccupied side of my bed. Truthfully, I had never shared my bed with someone other than my immediate family and the sight of him on his stomach, snuggling into my pillow staring owlishly at me while I slept was very unnerving. But if he slept even a little, I suppose I shouldn't get upset. He was only there to protect me despite his perverse stalker-y ways. So I simply glared at him and grunted once, the pervert just gave a disturbing giggle in answer.

After that we pretty much left each other alone for an hour or so. We just lay there together, just thinking. Well, thinking in my case, I don't know what he was doing. In fact, I don't even want to know what went on in that crazy head of his. There are some things that are just best left alone. Although, a small part of my mind did whisper ominously that it was nice spending time with him, just in silence. The larger part of my mind told me harshly to bite my tongue and banish that disgusting thought. I almost snorted out loud at my conflicted mind.

I sighed and snuggled deeper into my pillow. My mind could hazily detect the scent of mint, I groaned. It seemed L had been in my bed for a very long time for my bed to start smelling like him. It wasn't that big a deal, but it did bother me a little. I suppose I wasn't used to having another unfamiliar person sharing my personal space and most of the things he did was a little too intimate and he was a complete stranger. I had just known him for a day and what long and eventful day it was.

I told myself forcefully that I had to make a better effort to familiarize myself with him. He would be with me all the damned time, so I just had to know him so well that the little things wouldn't bother me. I stretched a little trying my best to not touch L in any way. I could feel his eyes burning into my skin as I heard a few of my joints pop. I ignored his looks and basically, him entirely as I continued to stretch languidly and sighed in utter bliss as I felt those delicious pops from my back and my arms.

It was a lazy drawl that brought me down from my usual morning ritual, "I assume by the utterly blissful look on your face that that must feel very pleasurable for you, Miss Iris."

I glared at him as hard as I could. He just had to spoil everything for me. I had just but opened my mouth to tell him off when it happened.

The intense look in his eyes made something in me click and almost all rational thought left my mind. Moments passed by as I stared into his deep almost sparkling obsidian eyes, I felt the temperature rise a little, nothing uncomfortable; in fact it got deliciously warm and that warmth seemed to spread throughout my body in gentle waves. My mouth felt dry and my breath hitched and something in my stomach tightened as I watched him lean in closer to me. The darn butterflies were wrecking havoc in my tummy when his nose brushed softly against mine. My voice felt stuck in my throat and my eyes fluttered shut. Something was happening to me and it felt too good for me to want it to stop.

His voice was ever so sinfully soft as he whispered, "Ahh…Miss Iris…what a vision you are…"

I felt his hot breath hit my lips and all I could do was lean forward a little and in the process bump my nose against his. All I could comprehend was the warmth of his breath and his body leaning above mine, the heady scent of mint and his deep voice. I wasn't even paying attention to the words he spoke to me.

One of his hands, those spidery long fingers crept into my hair and was twirling my dark curly strands. His hands felt good in my hair. His nose moved against my cheek. I could feel him inhaling my skin and his breathe seemed to get a little, just a little erratic. I gasped a little as I felt his thin lips brushing against my cheek, but I still kept my eyes shut. His lips were surprisingly cool and smooth. I really was lost in this new experience. Maybe it was the fact that my eyes were closed. Maybe the loss of one sense was amplifying all my other senses. Whatever it was, it felt so deliciously good.

He whispered, with his lips pressed to my warm cheek, "My Miss Iris…how sweet you smell…how positively enticing…I had never understood the appeal of hair until I had seen your hair…felt how soft it is…and your skin…"

His voice was making my skin flush and that odd tingling in the bottom of my stomach was growing more and more prominent by the second. I bit my lower lip hard and arched into him a little. His lips felt good and he could tell, because he let out a dark chuckle that sent shivers down my spine and tightened his hand in my hair. His hand had grasped my tangled hair at the base of my neck and he used it to angle my head to the side.

I didn't know what he was doing but I was too lost to protest in any way. His nose brushed my jaw line a few times as he continued to whisper, "No one will touch your hair or you…I won't let them…My Miss Iris…"

I sighed and arched as his nose and those cool lips skimmed the side of my neck. His breath was doing strange things to my neck. I never knew my neck could be that sensitive. It was a chain of reactions as I licked my lips, felt that jolt of warmth travel to the pit of my stomach and down to my toes, my thighs pressed against each other and I squirmed and arched into him, and my hands clutched fistfuls of my bed sheet.

He hissed, "Yes…My Miss Iris…"

He pressed a long and hot kiss on my racing pulse and chuckled again, by then I was panting a little. Something in me throbbed and I didn't know what to do. My chest heaved and brushed his arm that he had me trapped with. That accidental pressure against my breast felt so good. I whimpered at the feeling, I could feel my nipples tightening just then. A dull thought crept in to my mind and told me that this was what arousal was. I was aroused.

He answered my whimper with a deep groan against my ear. He pressed little kisses to my ear as his hand tightened in to my hair even more and the hand that had me pinned to the bed travelled to my waist. I could feel the warmth of those thin fingers through my t-shirt and that palm travelled lower down to the curve of my hip. Heat pooled into my panty. That was when I felt it, his finger gripping the almost bare skin of my hip. He chuckled and whispered, "Black silk, Miss Iris…how very naughty you are…"

His fingers rubbed against my bare flesh and the side of my panty. He continued to whisper, "I cannot decide which feels better this naughty little panty you have on or your bare skin…Miss Iris…"

I panted harder as he gripped my hip tight and drew patterns on the silk with his thumb. He nudged against my closed knees with his knee. The coarse fabric of his jeans felt good against my skin. But that squirming feeling made me keep my knees shut to him. He huffed against my ear and then chuckled. That was all the warning I had before he took my ear lobed between his lips and bit on it sharply.

I moaned loudly as my eyes flew opened and my hands clutched onto his shoulders. It was a sharp feeling, a sting that wasn't painful exactly, but something electric that made me even more wanton then I already was. I felt myself get hotter, but I shivered and a little moisture seeping down there. My nails dug hard into his shoulders and he moaned, his knee slid right in between my thighs and pressed up to my aching centre with the pressure I didn't know it wanted. I arched up and pressed my heaving breasts against his lean chest as he sucked on my abused earlobe.

He was breathing just as hard as I was. My eyes were clenched closed shut in ecstasy as he let go of my earlobe with a soft pop and licked this spot on my neck in a slow circle. He alternated between hard sucks, slow licks and soft kisses and it felt heavenly. All I could do was moan, groan and dig my nails harder into his shoulders in answer. He seemed to groan every now and then too, especially when I gripped his shoulders harder.

The warmth and the wicked suction of his mouth, the caresses of his warm wet tongue, the scrapes and nibbles of his teeth, the combination firm and feather-light kisses of his smooth and cool lips were wrecking havoc on my mind and reigned chaos on my hormones. He was playing my body like a finely tuned musical instrument with the expertise of a musical genius. Oh how my body craved for more. My sex was throbbing and was wet and begging for more stimuli. I wanted the finish. I wanted the explosion that I knew he could give me.

Like I have said before, I was inexperienced when it came to the physical relationship between a man and a woman. I was just Inexperienced, not ignorant. It was a new experience for me, one that I was much unprepared for especially considering who my partner was. But it felt too good for me to want it to stop. Like all good things come to an end, that seemingly good thing came to an end as well. It was his next whisper that got me out of that trance he had me in.

"That's a good girl…My Miss Iris, how exquisite you are…so good you feel…My Miss Iris…"

Something like before just clicked and screamed in my head. I was letting a total pervert and an almost stranger at that, grope me and do nefarious things to me. I was not letting this pervert get my first kiss, let alone my virginity. So what if I was painfully aroused and what he was doing was too good? If it was too good, then it was definitely too good to be true and most importantly I didn't want him and he was seducing me.

The feelings did not go away as he persistently pressed kisses against my throat, that talented mouth of his was doing rapturous things. I had finally gained my senses to stop him, but the question was how when my body didn't want him to stop. My mind raced and raced as I tried my best to ignore his touch and all the feelings he invoked in me entirely. I had to stop L and that was when it hit me. An idea, a brilliantly nefarious idea and it was just as nefarious as the things he was doing to my body.

I opened my eyes and stared at my ceiling and steeled myself for what I was about to do. I dragged one of my hands down his back my nails biting harshly into his hard back. I could tell from his previous reactions that he liked the feeling of my nails digging into his skin. He groaned and was panting harshly against my throat, I was sure I had left marks on his back. I let my other hand grip a fistful of his unruly black hair and pulled his face towards mine.

His dark eyes met mine and I could feel their intensity creeping into my consciousness again, but I fought hard and eventually won as I noticed that small smirk on his lightly puffy lips. Damn, he looked like he had been kissed thoroughly. He kissed me, sniffed me, licked me, sucked on me and hell, he even bit me. You know what he was? A perverted egoistic son of a bitch who was going to get clobbered, that's what he was.

I know what he saw when he looked back at me. I was still aroused and I thoroughly looked it. I did my best to give him a simmering seductive look and then with my eyelashes lowered I coyly turned my head to the other side, and like I expected he leaned in to give the same treatment to the offered new territory. He chuckled and just as he pressed a hard kiss to my racing pulse I let out a long throaty moan. I could tell it affected him, because he gripped me harder against him. He pressed his knee a bit harder against my sex. That sent a heavy shot of electricity through my senses. It was just the stimulus my centre was demanding and it was solely the thought of revenge that kept me from falling into the abyss of ecstasy he was offering.

I angled his head by his hair and pressed my nose right into his neck. There was a slight jolt in his body as I nuzzled his skin and I could tell that he was surprised and he actually thought I was reciprocating his actions. He groaned and the sound to my surprise was so incredibly aroused that it made me blush harder if possible. But I smiled against his neck, his eager response was better for my revenge.

Damn, he smelt like mint and I was enjoying having this strange control over him. His reactions to my simple actions made me feel empowered. Now I could understand the pleasure he took in manipulating me to his desires. I carefully brushed my nose against the arch of his neck, blowing warm breath against that pale skin and I watched gleefully as goose bumps broke through his skin. I gripped the wrist that he had on my hip tightly and kissed just below his ear. He groaned and chuckled, I could feel his body relaxing and giving into mine. The warm weight of his lean body was surprisingly pleasant, and entirely too welcome on mine. The thought was disturbing and I blamed it all on the fact that I was still aroused. I opened my mouth a little and slowly and as sensually as I could, sucked in that skin beneath my mouth.

He hissed harshly and grinded his knee a bit harder against my hot silk covered centre. The moan that erupted from my lips wasn't as planned as I wanted it to be; in fact it wasn't planned at all and god how I wanted him to keep that knee pressed up against that spot. I wanted to move against that knee so bad but I kept my cool and made my next move. Gripping his wrist and hair harder than before I chuckled and theatrically moaned out, "Oh Lawliet, your skills as a lover are so mediocre!"

As expected, there was a sharp in take of breath on his behalf and I felt him stiffen above me. His hand had let go of my hip as had his hand in my hair and his knee stiffly slid away from where it was firmly lodged and grinding. But I was far from done, before he could quickly get off of me, I bit him sharply just below his ear, earning another hiss from him.

I didn't even give him the chance to look at my face let alone say anything, I pushed him off of me with a strength that I know he didn't know I had. I swiftly rolled out of the bed and stood up on shaky legs to find him sprawled out on my bed.

I was breathing heavy and god, how my throat felt parched. Somehow that heady arousal that was wrecking havoc on my body quieted down and in its place was bubbling fury. With my fists clenched and my jaw tightened to the point where I was worrying about my poor molars grinding themselves into pieces, I studied the pervert that had just mauled me.

The man really was a pervert. His breathing was just as labored as mine was and his usually deathly white cheeks were flushed a pale pink. One thing though, those dark circles of his which usually added character to his face made him look somewhat demonic with those glittering black eyes of his. Demonic because he was staring hungrily at me like I was a huge dish of strawberry sundae. It was an apt description considering all those comments of his comparing me to food items.

I smirked slightly at the sight of him rubbing the spot where I bit him and unlike him, I bit him viciously. Good, that should hurt. His hair was all messed up, not that it wasn't usually but I knew this time I made it like that. My eyes scanned over the sight of him sprawled on my bed and horrifically enough my sight locked on something that made my body flush and mortification flood my body. Also that watered down arousal returned to my body with a vengeance. His usually loose jeans weren't all that loose anymore, especially in a certain portion. His crotch…it was tented and worst yet, I was staring at it. I choked on my own spit and almost shook as I struggled to get my eyes back up to his face and compose a cool reply or at least get over the damned shock of ogling his boner.

Finally just as I managed to look back at his face, what do I find? He was licking those lips of his whilst staring at my bare legs. I had had enough and needed to take control over the situation. I snapped, "Oi, Creep! I'm going for a shower and when I am back, you and I need to have a talk. Stay here and do not give me one more reason to sic Gilbert on you."

He sat up, not even bothering to cover up his…reaction and eyed me in a confused manner, "One more reason, Miss Iris?"

I gritted out, "Yes, one more reason. The first being the mauling you gave me just now."

He looked even more confused as he scrunched up his nose and looked at me. I stated coldly, "I am extremely angry at you right now, L. So angry that I do not want to deal with you at all and provoking me further in this state will only make me leave you to Gilbert because I might dissolve all possibilities of us ever working together."

With that I stormed off to the safety of my bathroom. There I was safe and far away from the ever trouble-making L. Also my bathroom had my shower and I was in the desperate need of some cooling off or at least attempting to drown my self in order to forget the lingering feel of L's lips on my skin.

If I said that the incident with L was pushed to the back of my mind and I wasn't unnerved, was completely focused on exacting my revenge on L, showing him his place and then keeping a healthy professional distance between us, in short being a mature and professional adult…I would be lying through my teeth. I was anything but all those things. The truth was as soon as I entered the bath room; I shut the door and collapsed against it. I sat there on the floor shivering for quiet some time. I was just a nineteen year old girl, still a teenager. A very smart teenager with an exceptionally high IQ, but I still was a teenager. One who never had any friends out side of her family, one who was never interested in the world outside of her own little world, one who knew everything about sexual attraction, but never experienced it and prior that particular morning was confident in saying that she didn't want to either. I was protected very well by my family and in a way I enjoyed living in my protective little bubble. The sad and scary thing was that, it was all crashing down. That incident was just another reminder of how things in my life turned upside down.

What L did to me, without my consent was wrong, so wrong, yet I couldn't deny that what he did felt amazing! The worst part was that there was a strong part of me that could have stopped L if I wanted to stop him. I could have very easily pushed him off or hurt him so bad that he would cringe every time he looked at me. I didn't do anything to stop him because I was enjoying what he was doing to me. I couldn't blame the entire thing on him when there was a part of me that was very willing. He didn't have my consent but neither did he have my rejection. A very snide voice from the back of my mind reminded me that the wanton signs my body gave him, I practically rubbed myself on him like a cat and that was a clear consent. It was such a new experience, so exhilarating, adventurous in a way. I wanted to explore this almost forbidden territory.

I wanted it to continue, that feeling was absolutely perfect. Yet the person I was doing it with was wrong, the reason why I was doing it was wrong, because there was no reason behind it. He wasn't the person I loved, hell he wasn't even a person I liked. Something that amazing, that perfect, that exhilarating should only be shared with a person you want to share it with. A person whom you want to share the ultimate form of affection, commitment and love with. Wasn't that why some people refer to sex as making love?

I used to think that the way men and women, in fact young adults, children almost, didn't have any control over their desires. They would get so lost in each other in this passionate way that it seemed too gross to me. Gross because even though I understood their desires, I couldn't fathom how or why they would slobber over each other like that. Or bite each other, or grab certain parts of their anatomies and other such acts. Yes, the books and the movies, hell the internet provided a lot of explanations about all of that and I understood the theories behind it all. I thoroughly explored all of said theories theoretically. I understood the mechanics, science, reasoning behind it all, but it still seemed a bit disgusting to me. At a young age I deemed the act of sex very awkward, quite unhygienic and extremely messy. As I grew up a bit more, Gilbert explained me of love and how it changes your perspective entirely. Love transforms that act of sex into something very beautiful and very precious.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have read numerous, actually hundreds of books of such stories after that particular talk with Gilbert. Love stories. I read them to understand how someone would see sex as love making. Well, how sex becomes love making because you are doing it with the one you love. Those books cleared a lot of my confusion about the line between lust and love. I told myself that I found the slobbering and the mess and the awkward positions disgusting because I haven't found the right person yet. And eventually I would meet him, like him, respect him, know him, lust him and slowly enough fall in love with him and hopefully then I would feel the fireworks and start referring to sex as love making.

Was L attractive? He wasn't all that bad looking, a bit distinctive, different, but not bad looking all together. He was handsome in his own way. I suppose, his eyes were his best feature. His voice had an intense effect on me too when he was being serious that is. He was tall, despite his terrible posture and I was a little fascinated with his hands. He was very smart and understood the mechanics of manipulation quite too well; in fact he was an expert at manipulation and that was attractive too and it was only attractive to me because I grew up with manipulative people and it was a trait I admired. I liked his hair too, running my fingers through his hair felt entirely too good. It seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing when he did all those things to me. He knew how to make me feel good, I suppose. Despite all of that, he was a stranger to me, I did not trust him, and I couldn't say that I respected him all that much. I was very grateful to him for him being bound to me as my protector, but I was undecided about him. My conclusion would be that he was attractive to me and he could provoke lust in me, which I think is a very basic human need. But he was not someone I loved and that was what was important and that was exactly why I could never again partake in such activities with him. Nor let him take advantage of me.

I might have explored this unknown territory with him a little. You know, snog him and maybe go a little further but since he was going to be a part of my new house and essentially an employee of mine, it would be entirely too stupid if I had any kind physical relationship with him. There was also the question as to what caused L to be interested in me in such a way. May be he was just a perverted man; well it's an assumption going by the comments he makes about me all the time. But his file which I had looked over rather discreetly and very quickly, that too behind L's back, said that he didn't have a lover in his life. No lover, no spouse, no love interest whatsoever. Maybe he had a mistress or a few mistresses he visited back when he was alive. I would need to go through his file quite thoroughly later on. There was just too much I didn't know about L and as it seemed things between him and I were getting entirely too serious. And I mean that in both a working relationship sense and a physical relationship sense.

I needed him and I needed to put him in his place also. L seemed like such a logical person back when we were talking last night, but his actions as of this morning suggested otherwise. I could find no reason for his attack on me. Yes, I would rather refer to the incident as an attack than anything else. His nefarious actions could be referred to as seduction too, but what reason could be behind his decision to seduce me?

Maybe it was a side-effect of his death and/or his summoning. I would have to look into it later on. Or maybe I was the nearest female available to him. If that was the case and he needed women as a necessity to sate his baser needs (which he had no control over), then I would have to talk to Gilbert about it. I know for a fact Victor had his rather long string of one-night stands, maybe Gilbert could school L into methods such as those. As long as his sleazy ways were discreet and couldn't be traced back to my house, it was tolerable.

Suddenly I was hit with a thought that saddened me a little. For a few years I was planning on a life where I would venture outside of the protective walls that my grandmother and Victor had created for me. I would take over some of the work or whatever my grandmother deemed me fit to do at our offices and interact with the outside world like them. Maybe even make a few friends, good relationships with colleagues and even have a romantic experience or two. But it seemed that what hazy little future prediction I had for myself, what little wish I had of having a normal life now that I was an adult was furiously turned about and I was once again put into a scripted role set by my grandmother.

I felt a little bitter, but thankfully there was a very strong essence of independency I felt with in. I was going to have my own place and almost be the boss of myself. How deliciously grown up that felt! The thought brightened up my mood just a smidgen. After that, my body went into the usual routine mode. Getting myself cleaned and making myself presentable and there was that slight whisper in my head which said that Gilbert would be soon there getting me breakfast and to start off my day.

I hummed a tune and moved around in my bathroom in my usual daily routine. Truthfully I wasn't paying all that much attention except wanting to get into the shower and just when I was taking off my t-shirt, I was hit with a thought. I had my pants on last night whenever it was that I dozed off. Who the hell took off my pants?

Ignoring the disgusted shivers that ran down my spine at the thought of L removing my pants, I showered and dried my hair. My bathroom had an attached dressing room and I am very happy to say that I dressed in the confines of said dressing room and away from L's perverted eyesight.

That morning I put a lot of thought into dressing up. I had a role to play and according to that I had to dress the part. I remembered looking at my mother's pictures; I couldn't possibly dress as…girly as her nor could I dress like my grandmother, elegant but uncomfortable. That just wasn't my style and I wouldn't be comfortable. The problem was though that my style was similar to my father's. Jeans, t-shirts, boots, sneakers and jackets, but that wouldn't do.

I have an older cousin, Kimberly Jacobs. I met her and her mother a few times with my grandmother. Now I never got along all that much with Kimberly but she would tell you differently. She was a fashion diva even at the small age of eleven. She tried to dress me up and do make-belief fashion shows with her. I remember her insisting on getting me to discover my inner fashion sense. It didn't work. Whenever we met, I used to let her talk my ears off without being outright rude to her. I suppose it was my grandmother's way of getting me a friend who was normal. I never got to be a friend of Kimberly's because I never felt normal. How could I, with ghosts and moving pictures?

But over the years, I heard my grandmother had paid for Kimberly's fashion school and last I heard she was a somewhat famous fashion designer or something of that sort. She kept a little contact over the years especially after her falling out with her mother. I guess we were her only family.

As I looked over all my clothes, I wryly thought how easily Kimberly could have come up with a proper outfit and style for me. I guess I could contact her sometime in the future and find out if she knew anything about the supernatural aspect of our family and maybe if she would like to work on a wardrobe for me.

In the end, I picked out a new pair of black skinny jeans and a black very deep v-necked flow-y top with long fitted sleeves. I paired it off with high-heeled dark grey pumps that matched the embroidered grey flowers and vines on the neck of my top. I had my necklace on as usual, but this time I made sure to put on a little make-up and perfume. Just a little lip balm and highlighting my eyes; my hair was brushed into a high ponytail by a black and grey ribbon.

As I looked over myself, I realized I looked different. I looked a little older, more confident and far more feminine and sophisticated than I usually looked in my ratty jeans and t-shirts. I knew my grandmother and Victor would be gob smacked; I gave them hell when they tried to get me dressed better. Although it was Gilbert who had most trouble in getting me to dress differently and he would be very pleased when he would see me.

I suppose I looked somewhat pretty as well, and knowing that L would be the first person to see me like that irked me a little. I would punch his throat if he made a disgusting comment about my clothes. By the time I walked out of the dressing room, I was calm and collected on the outside and just the right amount of nervous on the inside.

I found L slouched and staring out the window that overlooked a garden. My heels clicked sharply as I made my way over to my new laptop and proceeded to look over files pertaining to my new premises. I ignored L and he seemed to be lost in his thoughts for some time. Unfortunately, that blessed silence and ignorance did not last long.

The first thing L said to me almost made my body shudder with disgust and my mind scream obscenities at him. His voice was that familiar calm, somewhat dark, exceedingly smooth and entirely serious voice, "You, Miss Iris are a virgin and have never been kissed!"

I was quiet for a few seconds as I tried not to choke on his proclamation. The pervert dared to say that to me after the mauling he gave me? If he wanted to play games then I would play and win. With a voice that dripped with bored nonchalance I stated, "You, L Lawliet tried to take advantage of said virgin and have not a lick of remorse nor regret for doing so."

I could feel his eyes on me but I stubbornly maintained my concentration on the laptop before me and the information I was browsing through. I continued, "Your sexual appetite is no business of mine. You are free to pursue and sleep with whomever you wish only if it is consensual. But as my employee I ask you to be discreet and keep your affairs clean. I do not want your sexual escapades to be traced back to my House. After all I have a reputation to build and maintain."

To strengthen the statement I gave him my Grandmamma's patented Antarctic glare. He was frowning at me thoughtfully and then he asked me, "Miss Iris did you forget that I can no longer have the sexual escapades and affairs you mentioned for the simple fact that I am a spirit? I can no longer be seen, heard or felt by normal people as you had witnessed in the kitchen yesterday afternoon. That shrieking woman there did not see me or hear me. Also if there was a way to get around that, there would be the fact that I cannot leave you to sate my sexual appetite."

So what if he couldn't have sex with normal people? I sneered at him, "So you think that permits you to sexually harass me just because I can see, hear and feel you? I am sure we can find some supernatural being that can see, hear or feel you, if you have no self-control over your raging libido."

The man had the audacity to smirk at me as he replied, "I have no intention or desire of having sex with any human being or supernatural being for that matter. As you have probably read from my files, I was never the one to take on sexual paramours or subject them to my raging libido, as you put it."

I snapped at him, trying to control the itch to sucker punch him, "Your actions as of this morning state otherwise, L."

There I was fuming and the bastard was smiling at me. He said to me softly, "Oh Miss Iris, I wish to taste you, touch you and feel you simply because I am attracted to you. Attracted to you sexually and somewhat emotionally in a way that I have never have with anyone before."

His declarations were leaving me with a sense of heavy foreboding, anxiety, disgust and fear. Yes, there was also a miniscule amount of excitement and curiosity, but I blame it on hormones and adrenaline. He continued, "You intrigue and fascinate me, Miss Iris and that cannot be said for many or any women that I have come across in my lifetime. I wish to have you as my own and I will continue to pursue that interest of mine as I will continue to protect you from whatever harm that will come your way."

I snarled at him, "You do not even know me. I am not a possession to be owned and I will not let you walk over me like this. I am the Head of your House and you will know your limits, L Lawliet."

He stared at me intently, "You are the Head of my House and mine to protect. That I acknowledge, but I am also possessive and protective of my interests and you Miss Iris are just that, so I will pursue you. You should not fret; you still can reject me and fight me on this topic. You can reject my advances as much as you wish just as I can pursue you to my best abilities."

I am sorry to say that his statement did make sense. His advances were repulsive, unfamiliar and annoying but I could bear with them as long as he did not do so in front of other people. Besides, I could always punish him for his disgusting actions. He made somewhat of a good point to me but that did not mean that I would admit it to him so just to make a point of my own I stated, "You say you are attracted to me sexually and somewhat emotionally. I believe you are a shallow creature and only obsessing over me sexually because I am the only female available to you. You do not know me or anything about me. You have no grounds to say you have any emotional feelings for me and to be attracted to me for said feelings."

It was true; it takes time and shared experiences between two people to develop any emotional feelings. He was just a spirit dragged down and tied to me, he knew nothing about me. I thought I made a very good point, but he seemed to think otherwise, as he chuckled annoyingly, "But Miss Iris I do know you. When I was undergoing that summoning and binding ritual Morganna Ravenhart was performing, I have seen and lived through numerous monumental and unimportant memories of yours. I have seen you grow from a little girl to an intelligent and strong young woman. I know almost everything there is to know about you and based on that I can surely say that I am attracted you."

That scared me. He knew everything? How could he possibly know everything about me? It seemed intrusive and unfair that he went through my past and was know tearing through my present. I wanted to yell at my grandmother and beat L into a pulp. But before I could brood to myself and fume anymore, L said adoringly, "Oh Miss Iris, no need to be angry about such a small thing. I am bound to you, to your very spirit. So it is only natural for me to know so much about you. Besides, you can now satisfy yourself by digging more through my past as you and Mr. Gilbert have done so last night."

He was also getting even with me for running a background check on him. The manipulative psycho. He traced a long finger over his lips as he stated thoughtfully, "I can see the logic behind making me see your past during the ritual. You see, the other spirits who pulled me into the summoning circle were looking for the perfect spirit to protect you. I am childish, stubborn and possessive. I hate to lose. Amongst my intellect and my past profession as a great detective, these were the very things they were looking for in your guardian spirit. It worked in your favor that I am attracted to you, consider you mine and want you in every sense of the word."

I whispered disgusted, horrified, fascinated and intrigued "How?"

He replied with a smile, "Well, it makes the bond strong now, doesn't it? While I would have protected you within my best capabilities simply because I like challenge and I hate losing, by showing me your past and making me see you in your best and worst lights, they made sure I had plenty opportunities to be attracted to you intellectually, sexually and emotionally. I know how protective and loyal you are and with the intensity that you love. I know you have had no romantic interests in anybody. I know how very intelligent, brave, ill-tempered, stubborn and naughty you are. I have seen your body grow from a little girl's into that of a very desirable woman's. Thus, I am attracted to you like no other. By doing so they have ensured that I do not see you as just a pawn in my game or an object in my challenge. They made you my personal interest. Now, I will not protect you within my best capabilities. I will go further than that and stop at nothing and do everything to protect you. Before I would not lose, now I cannot lose. Losing would mean losing you and I cannot and will not let that happen, Miss Iris."

His speech let me edgy and I felt a slight migraine coming. I slapped a hand over my eyes in agitation and gritted out, "This is un-fucking-believable."

What did L say to that? He pouted and replied, "Well, if you do not want to believe all of that rather lengthy explanation concerning my actions of this morning then maybe you should believe that I kissed you for another reason."

I bit out sarcastically, "Yes and what is that reason, oh wise one?"

He replied, "While I was kissing you, I could feel your spiritual energy and it was rising."

I was baffled; he felt my energy? But Grandmamma said I had none whatsoever. Did it mean that L could possibly bring out and help me get the spiritual energy that apparently would make me strong? This was a good thing. A ray of hope, so to speak. I was smiling a little at that thought.

I nodded my head at L's discovery and told him, "You might be onto something. We will figure this out with Gilbert later."

He smirked at me, "As you desire, Miss Iris."

The smug bastard. I glared at him, "And you did NOT kiss me."

I thought it would bring him down, but unfortunately it did the stark opposite. He looked frighteningly gleeful as he said, "Oh how right you are, Miss Iris. I didn't get to kiss you, properly that is. But that only means I have to rectify that. I will kiss you Miss Iris and quite thoroughly at that."

I growled and resisted the urge to throw my laptop at him. He giggled and asked, "So, can I kiss you now, Miss Iris?"

I snarled out, "Hell no and shut the hell up."

He chuckled and mercifully left me alone for a while. In silence that is, he did in fact continue to gawk at me with his weird panda eyes. And how did I take advantage of that golden silence you may ask? I sulked, brooded and over-thought. Quite dramatically. Classic Iris.

An hour later my mind was as usual on over-drive and I suppose I was done with thinking about what L revealed to me that morning. I contemplated throwing another hissy fit at L, but that wouldn't be the adult like behavior. I was no longer a child and I had problems that weren't child like, therefore I couldn't possibly behave child like. Well, not anymore.

L had feelings for me that were somewhat romantic I suppose, and his intentions towards me weren't all that pure. Like he said, he wanted me in every sense of the word. I might not return his feelings or his desires, but I did want him in my House. So far, he had helped me immensely. He came up with a plan, was my guardian spirit which indicated he too had powers we don't know about yet and he has experience from his past life that would be monumentally helpful to me. There was also that fact that L was the only one who so far had felt my spiritual energy. It was an undisputable fact that L was my only option to gain this power.

I knew I needed to investigate more about L, our bond and the summoning. There was a part of me that wanted to talk to Gilbert about the moves L made on me and plans to make on me, not because I wanted Gilbert to save me from him, but because I was confused and I needed a friend to talk to. Unfortunately, that wasn't even possible to consider because I also knew that if I did that then Gilbert would either kill L in the most painful way possible or if by some miracle he didn't kill L then any chance of a peaceful working environment between those two would be the most unattainable thing on the planet. Gilbert really was protective of me and L would give him plenty of reasons for that protectiveness to go on overdrive.

So for sometime in the unmentionable future, I would deal with L and all his perverse ways on my own. Gilbert doesn't need to know everything. I did wonder for sometime though, how much L knew about my past. Did he see me with my various home tutors? Did he see how uncomfortable and out of place I was during the short time I was put in school? How the other children always found me odd? Did he see how my grandmother and Gilbert always hid me away when some of my cousins came to visit? Did he see me with Victor and Gilbert or me with the paintings and the statues? Just how much did he know about me?

L was right though. If and I emphasis that if, he did have feelings for me then it was a smart move on the spirits' part who summoned him. His reasons for protecting me really were reinforced by his supposed feelings for me. It was a cruel but somewhat smart move. I didn't want to encourage L's feelings and I most certainly didn't appreciate his advances. Regretfully though, according to him he had feelings for me and he desired me. Also according to him I was free to reject him but I knew he would be insistent in his advances no matter how many times and how brutally I would reject him. He was stubborn, childish and hated to lose. To say that I was in a pickle, would be to put it mildly.

I didn't get much more time to dwell on my strange predicament because there was that familiar knock on my door and my favorite red-head entered. I didn't take my eyes off my laptop but I smirked gleefully as I heard that slight gasp coming from Gilbert's direction. I took my sweet time at finally looking at him and as I expected he looked at the verge of crying. His lips were pulled into a beaming grin and his eyes were shinning with pride. I knew he would be affected with my dressing up a little bit. The poor man had been trying so hard to achieve this result for the past I-don't-know-how-many years of my life.

I returned his smile as he greeted me with a smile that could only be described as dazzling, "Good Morning, Little Miss!"

As I looked over what he brought me for brunch I replied, "Good Morning to you too, Gilbert!"

Yummm…Blueberry Waffles. "Might I say that you look positively beautiful this morning, Little Miss?"

I smirked, "Don't I look beautiful every morning, Gilbert?"

He served me my food and chuckled, "Yes, but this morning you went for the beautifully dressed-up rather than the beautifully gotten-out-of-the-bed-and-wore-the-first-thing-I-came-across look, Little Miss!"

I had to give him that, he was right. I noticed L pouring a river of syrup on his huge tower of waffles and then chomping down huge amounts of it as well. In between inhaling his food the bastard managed to make an off comment yet again.

"Yes, Mr. Gilbert! Miss Iris does look positively beautiful this morning and L must say that the credit for that goes to him this morning. L gave Miss Iris a beautiful morning."

The bastard. Gilbert immediately went on assassin mode the way he tensed up and he gave me a questioning look. More like he scanned me head to toe than questioning look, actually. I sighed and replied dismissively, "Nothing to be alarmed about, Gilbert! It was just that I got some much needed sleep because you let me sleep in and L woke me up just in time."

That pacified Gilbert but he still shot L a venomous look and replied lovingly to me, "Yes, Little Miss. I thought it would be best to let you sleep in a little bit this morning."

"Thank you, Gilbert. But in the future, we should come up with a routine for me to follow in the new House. I would like to start the day as early as possible there."

Gilbert nodded and asked, "Little Miss, would you like a list of applicants for the staff of the new House or would you prefer if we kept the staff at a minimum?"

I replied, "I have thought about it, Gilbert. The funds that I have inherited on my eighteenth birthday and the funds that Mistress Ravenhart would allot my House enables me to have a large staff, but I would like you to choose just a handful of people that would perform efficiently and whom you would trust implicitly, Gilbert."

I continued after Gilbert's nod, "Also, I have looked over the layout for the mansion on Area 9 and I have read the basic information on Area 9. I want to know more about Area 9."

Gilbert's eyes took on a chilly look for a second before he nodded once again. He knew something and I would bet all my inheritance that it was something about Area 9 that was bugging him. I could have pushed him to tell me, but I left it alone for the moment. To distract him, I told him, "Gilbert, although the mansion is quite large and needs a full house of employees to run it, I am sure you can manage it with a handful of employees."

L who was until now munching loudly on his mouthful of overly sweet mush seemed too busy to hear let alone process all that I was talking about till now, but as usual things with him where never what they seemed. He talked with his mouthful, "How does Miss Iris know that?"

I didn't even spare him a look as I replied, "Gilbert has always been entirely too efficient and I always wondered how he did all that he did. Yesterday I got my answer when I found out about his unique heritage. I want him to employ people like him, meaning people with supernatural backgrounds. With a small team of efficient people like Gilbert himself, the mansion will have excellent up keeping as well as security."

Gilbert added, "Yes, Little Miss. I was thinking about a chef, three maids, a groundskeeper and of course myself as your butler."

I smiled, "It sounds like you have already picked the people for those positions, Gilbert."

He gave me a hesitant smile and replied softly, "Well, some people just came to my mind when you mentioned the small staff, Little Miss. I know them from my past and they were very efficient as well as trustworthy."

"Run a background check on them and give me their files. After I am done with that, I would like you to set up interviews with them, Gilbert."

L's surprisingly understandable mumble through that mush of food in his mouth stated, "And L assumes Miss Iris would be the one interviewing them."

Gilbert glared at him as I confirmed, "You assume right, L."

I asked Gilbert, "Gilbert, I wish to move into the new mansion as soon as possible. It doesn't even need to be in great condition. Just working security and my bedroom set up would be enough. We can fix everything else up after I move there."

Gilbert looked sad for a second and then he replied, "I have already started packing things up here, Little Miss. We can move there soon enough, but our main priority would be the security of that mansion."

I nodded, "I am sure that with your expertise, Gilbert setting up the security of a mansion would be quite acceptable."

"It will be done by day after tomorrow, Little Miss."

We were quiet for sometime. L was done with his huge breakfast. It was a sight that was quite disturbing, to say the least. Gilbert brought out the topic that needed much attention.

"Little Miss, before we move in, we need to finish creating your new background."

"Yes, that. So what do we have so far, Gilbert?"

Suddenly, L's attention was completely on what we were talking about. The idiotic persona was gone and serious and manipulative L was back in the game. Gilbert took out a laptop from somewhere, when I say somewhere, I mean somewhere. It just appeared in his hands. I blinked stupidly for a second.

Gilbert looked sheepish as he answered the unasked question, "Summoning charm, Little Miss."

I blinked again as L sarcastically stated, "Yes and that explains so much, doesn't it, Mr. Gilbert?"

Gilbert glared at him and bit out, "A summoning charm is a spell that is placed on an object and when you say the proper incantation, it comes to you. My laptop for example, has a mark which links it to my magic and it will appear when I summon it, verbally or non-verbally."

That explained a little, I suppose. I frowned and said with no emotion detectable in my voice, "Gilbert, I will need a tutor. A tutor who can teach me all there is to know about magic and things pertaining the supernatural world and the tutor needs to be able to keep it all a secret."

Gilbert nodded, "We could bind this tutor with a magical contract."

"Yes, for now we should work on our new backgrounds."

Gilbert asked, "I have a suggestion for your new identity, Little Miss."

I nodded and he continued, "I was going to use one of my old aliases, George Fletcher. George Fletcher already has a proper and well established background. But for your background, Little Miss, I was going to suggest you to be an orphan whom the previous Head of the Blue Dragon House had taken under his wing."

I went through a lot of files the previous night and I knew of this Blue Dragon House. The Blue Dragon house had been dispersed after the Head of the House died. There would be no way to confirm or deny the fact that I was an orphan that the Head had taken in because of the simple fact that the Head was in fact a very private and secretive person and he was now dead. The Head of the Blue Dragon was also a very powerful and well respected person in the magical community and thus I being his charge at some point in my life would be quite good for my reputation.

It was entirely another matter though that claiming to be the charge of the Blue Dragon's late Head was also an emotional decision. It would also cause a whole world of mess and chaos if they found out the real truth between the Blue Dragon's late Head and I. You see, The Blue Dragon's Head was Eric Maxwell, my father.

My father was sort of a lone wolf and he guarded his private life zealously, he had his secrets. One of which was my mother and even though the world knew eventually he had married the heiress to the Ravenhart Family, I was till date his hugest and most precious secret. No one knew I existed. There were rumors once that Cassandra Ravenhart was pregnant or that she had given birth to a child, but it was quickly proved wrong. There was no announcement from the Ravenhart family or from Eric Maxwell that a child was born to them. People waited with bated breath for the powerful child born from the union of the Dragon Prince and the Ravenhart Princess, but no such child appeared and soon enough the happy couple died tragically in a war. They died a hero's death leaving behind no child, according to the supernatural world, that is.

My grandmother hid me away from prying eyes. Kimberly was the only cousin whom I had met and who knew me. I suppose she knew the entire truth about me from the very beginning, considering that she could talk to the paintings. Gilbert mentioned there were some people, some very trustworthy people knew of my existence. They were friends and close family and even though they were trusted implicitly by my grandmother and Victor, they were still bound in magical contracts to never reveal anything about me.

Anyway, this angle that Gilbert got could work perfectly. Gilbert was typing away at his laptop as I told him, "That seems acceptable. My new identity needs to be older and I will need you to establish a background for me. Where I was all these years, how I met Eric Maxwell and how I came to working for Morganna Ravenhart, etc, etc."

I thought about it for a few moments before I stated, "I think I have a new name for myself."

Gilbert gave me his most dazzling smile as I said my new name aloud, "Violet. Violet Blackhart."

Violet, because Grandmamma once said my mother considered that name for me when she was pregnant and Blackhart was just another form of Ravenhart. Gilbert complimented softly, "That's a beautiful name for you, Little Miss."

L added his two scents and said, "L will have to call you Miss Vivi, now then?"

I growled, "You don't have to call me anything, L."

The bastard pouted and whined, "But L needs a pet name for his most favorite person, Miss Iris."

I could hear Gilbert greeting his teeth, I sighed, "L, you may call me Miss Violet then."

He blinked owlishly and muttered "Miss Violet" over and over again to himself and then nodded at me. Hopefully, that will keep his antics down for a little while. Then again, it was a foolish wish.

Gilbert stated, "So, Miss Violet Blackhart was an orphan with magical potential that impressed Eric Maxwell and so he took her under his wing. After his death, she went away for a while travelling all over the world improving her skills when she met George Fletcher, the retrieval specialist. They worked together for some time before she returned back to England and to the Ravenhart House, where Morganna Ravenhart offered her a job and she took it."

I nodded along, so far so good. Gilbert commented thoughtfully, "We need to work out more details concerning your abilities and certain skills, but we can do that as we go along. I think that keeping the aura of mystery concerning you would be the best option. This would make you credible and give you a reputation like your late guardian Eric Maxwell."

I agreed and with the way L was surprisingly quiet I assumed that he agreed too. Gilbert continued, "Violet Blackhart's reputation will only be improved by the people she will employ. In other words, the more infamous your staff is the more powerful you appear. George Fletcher is already quite reputable as a retrieval specialist, so he being your butler would be good for your House. Also, summoning a guardian spirit bound to you is a remarkable and powerful magical achievement. Therefore I would suggest introducing Master L as your guardian spirit to whoever appears before you, Little Miss."

An interesting fact Gilbert told me last night; apparently I have control over L's visibility to others. As in if I wished, no could see him and again if I wished then everyone could see him. But I have little to no control over that ability of mine yet. A prime example of this was Jill. Jill couldn't see nor hear L at all. Gilbert would help me have control over that ability and apparently the power of invisibility could possibly be one of L's powers, but we don't know that yet.

Now, I know taking credit for someone else's work and taking the praise and brag about said achievement was something that was way below me, but this was most certainly a strategic move. The summoning achievement was all due to my Grandmamma's magical prowess but I had to pass it off as mine. Besides, I wouldn't say that I summoned him, I would just say that he was my summoned guardian spirit, which he was, and if people assumed that I did all the magical mumbo-jumbo then well, it's their misconception. A misconception I wouldn't correct.

Gilbert continued, "Little Miss, the case of the Death Notes and L is an infamous tale in our community. L himself is known as a famous mortal hero, if he was known around as your guardian spirit then it would be very beneficial for us. Even with the lack of a powerful Grimm, we would be considered a very formidable House on the sole base of L's reputation."

I considered it for a moment and then looked at L for his input in this idea. What I saw was something that disturbed me. L looked strangely lost. Sad, even. I left a little guilty for taking advantage of his tragic past, hell he was murdered and he didn't exactly catch the culprit either. Everyone in the magical community knew of L as a great and formidable mortal but in the end he did lose to a serial killer with a god complex who was as famous as Jack the Ripper. Everyone in the magical community of him as the Ultimate Detective who met his demise at the hands of the horrible serial killer named Kira. Also, Mello and Matt, two of L's mortal replacements were known as the great martyrs who gave their lives in order for Kira to be caught. Then there the still living mortal Near who was the current Great Detective.

Being known for your horrible and tragic past and then being appraised for it wasn't a walk in the park. It would be cruel for me to make L go through this, to introduce him to people as L and then let them tear him apart by prying into his past. But in the end it was solely his decision. His decision if he wanted to face his past or have an entirely new beginning.

I waited for sometime before L answered; his voice was cool and smooth, "I would like a new identity as well. To everyone I would like to introduced as that new identity, but when the time and need comes, I will reveal to certain people that I am L. This way we will be able to manipulate situations and people and make the most of it. No need to overuse an advantage we have."

I must say, he surprised me. He found an entirely new and profitable angle even to this. He was right, no need to get too much attention on us just now. Later when the need comes, which it will, we could intimidate a whole lot of people by revealing to them just who my guardian spirit was. Until then L and I both needed to learn a whole lot about this new world and our so-called magical powers. Then again, it shouldn't surprise me all that much. In his past life, he always did hide his identity and only reveal when he needed to take advantage of it. He was already a pro at this game and I could trust his ability to give us the edge over everyone. So I agreed before Gilbert could disagree with him just for the hell of it, by asking him mockingly, "So, what's your name, Lawliet?"

His answer was a monotonous, "Quill Danvers."

Strange name, but it suited him, I suppose. So, there we were the first three members of my House. Violet Blackhart, George Fletcher and Quill Danvers. New beginnings with new names.


	14. A Very Important Note to my Readers

Hello Readers,

It is with great sorrow that I am writing this but I have bad news. From what I have been hearing, plans on deleting many stories. Well, stories which are all our favorites and just happen to have sex in them, or swearing, or extreme violence.

But if this is to happen then our stories, our very writing style and plotlines will be affected. I mean I cannot write about Eric Northman without mentioning sex, or Clint Barton, or Mr. Gold, or Rumpelstiltskin, or Godric, or many, many others.

What does it matter why we write what we write? It is our imagination, and our way of expressing it. If cannot allow it then why does the site's motto say, Unleash Your Imagination?

I can't bear to imagine what will happen if so many of my favorite stories are all deleted from the site, I don't even think I could write my own stories with such restrictions.

So please spread the word and let us do something about it.

* * *

There is a scheme brewing up with the FF staff and they're planning to take down any and every story over the M rated section (stories with Yaoi, Yuri, het lemons, song based stories, extreme violence, etc...)

So on June 23rd, there will be an official Black Out. Authors will not be able to log in, read, or review stories. Those who do not have accounts are also affected by FF's decisions too. Please participate and spread the news! If enough authors take part in this event, FF will know that we mean business. Also, if anybody has any information on when this purging on M-rated fics will be, please contact me. I would like to know in advance.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Copy and paste this into your story updates, communities and forums!

Thanks!

* * *

Also, please sign this petition. I have personally seen the bullying of one of my favorite writers by this 'Critic'. She had to open a new account.

* * *

Copied from the petition of David Anderson:

For as long as has existed, aspiring authors have used it to expand their creativity and imagination. Stories such as songfics are one of many ways for us to show our love of music and writing and share it with the world. However, groups like Critics United have taken it upon themselves to go and harass authors, teasing and bullying the author until he/she has to take down the story. The have no right to do this to authors, and we have to take a stand. and if songfics are not allowed by the site, then why is there catagories like Glee or Phantom of the Opera or Cats on the site for fanfictions? Please help our voice be heard and lets take a stand!

petitions/the-authors-of-fanfiction-net-stop-critics-united-from-cyber-bullying-our-fellow-authors-2

Please remove the spaces and join the petition, we need to put a stop to this.

Zahra...


	15. AN

Hello Readers,

I have never had to write something like this ever before so bear with me and please do excuse my odd behavior.

My mother whom I have spoken of before, she passed away on the 19th of this month. She had suffered a lot and although I know she is in peace now, I still miss her terribly and find it nearly impossible to accept her absence in my life. She had Parkinson's and was in the last stage of it, GBS, dementia and epilepsy.

I feel incredibly depressed and feel like mourning all the time, but there is a lot to be sorted through, a lot to be done and handled. I am an only child so it falls all on me as well as handling my father who is significantly older than my mother. My mother was 45 when she passed away, too young.

I don't exactly know how to handle myself. All I have been doing till now is just distracting myself with work, people, cousins and all the things I need to sort out or fix.

I don't know exactly when I can get back to writing, it maybe months from now or it maybe tomorrow. So please excuse me.

Please pray for my mother.

Thank you.

Zahra.


	16. STOP SOPA

Dear Readers,

This is to ask you guys to help. Please sign this petition. We need 100, 000 signatures by the 19th of March. SOPA which stands for Stop Online Piracy Acts is back and will stop all fanfiction websites, fan-art, fan web pages, fan made videos, etc will all be banned.

Please stop SOPA. We need around 66, 000 more signatures. So please post this as a chapter update or on your twitter, facebook, intagram, tumblr or just spread the word and get as many people as you can to sign this as well as sign it yourself.

The link is:

.gov/petition/stop-sopa-2014/q0Vkk0Zr

Thank you…

Zahra.


End file.
